China's Golden Week volume sets a record as trip spend sits at a three-year low
China's National Day holiday runs from 1 to 7 October. The Mid-Autumn Festival holiday runs from 25 to 27 September. A worker who takes three days of annual leave joins the two into a 13-day break, Trip.com Group states in its own holiday release. Travel volume for the period is set to reach a record. Average spending per trip sits at a three-year low.
A record volume and a 911.04 yuan trip
Reuters calculated average spending of 911.04 yuan (USD 135.70) per trip from government data. That is the lowest average of the past three National Day holidays.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported 888 million domestic trips and 809 billion yuan of domestic tourism spending for the eight-day 2025 holiday. The ministry's release of 9 October 2025 puts trips 123 million higher and spending 108 billion yuan higher than the seven-day 2024 holiday.
The same totals give the comparison. Per trip: 911.04 yuan in 2025, 916.08 yuan in 2024 on 765 million trips and 700.8 billion yuan, and 912.14 yuan in 2023 on 826 million trips and 753.43 billion yuan. The 2025 spending total is published rounded, so the per-trip figure follows that rounding.
The consumption month and the rail capacity
The ministry launched the 2026 National Day Culture and Tourism Consumption Month on 22 September at Mile in Yunnan province. The campaign covers the Mid-Autumn holiday and the National Day holiday and runs to the end of October. Local governments plan more than 20,000 cultural and tourism events and will issue more than 310 million yuan, about USD 45.9 million, in consumer vouchers and subsidies.
China State Railway Group runs a 16-day holiday rail period from 23 September to 8 October. The operator expects 284 million passenger trips and plans about 13,000 passenger trains a day. October 1 is the projected peak. Night high-speed services run on selected nights on the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Harbin trunk lines.
Earlier departures and longer stays
Trip.com Group reports more than half of outbound flight bookings for departures before 1 October. Average trip length exceeds nine days. Bookings for hotel stays of seven nights or more rose 123 per cent year on year, and bookings for multi-destination itineraries rose 84 per cent.
Shanghai-based Spring Tour sold out long-haul packages to Spain and Portugal, the Balkans, Northern Europe, Greece and New Zealand by mid-August. Routes to Central Asia, the Caucasus and Australia sold out ahead of schedule. More than half of the agency's long-haul travellers departed before 25 September.
Mid-range is where the demand sits
Dragon Trail International surveyed 1,010 mainland Chinese travellers in August for its September 2026 Chinese Traveler Sentiment Report, published on 23 September. Fifty-four per cent planned outbound travel during the holiday period, against 35 per cent a year earlier. Mid-range hotels were the most popular accommodation choice at 33 per cent. Economy hotels followed at 29 per cent, and 5 per cent planned luxury hotels.
What the trade reads in the numbers
"Consumers still have a strong appetite for travel, but they remain cautious about how much they spend," said Ailsa Liao, senior analyst at Forthright Securities. "The result is a K-shaped spending pattern: volumes can be strong even as spending per consumer remains under pressure."
Liao said the extended holiday should produce record travel numbers. She said no evidence points to a structural jump in daily spending. Per capita tourism spending fell during the 2025 National Day holiday and the 2026 Spring Festival, she said. "More travellers do not necessarily mean proportionately higher profits."
The ministry reported 596 million domestic trips and 803.5 billion yuan over the nine-day 2026 Spring Festival holiday, which began on 15 February. That is 95 million trips more than the eight-day 2025 holiday. Spending per trip works out at 1,348.15 yuan, against 1,351.30 yuan in 2025.
Sienna Parulis-Cook, director of marketing and communications at Dragon Trail International, said the market is more cost-sensitive than previously and that travellers pay greater attention to getting value for money.
The day-room shelf behind the holiday figures
A day room prices against the overnight rate of the same room. The Reuters figures describe trip spend and overnight demand. The day-use platforms publish the day side, city by city.
Dayuse carries no mainland China city page. Its China route returns no inventory and points to Macau. The Macau page lists eight day hotels, led by the Holiday Inn Express Macau City Centre at US$54 against a US$153 nightly rate, on windows from 9am to 9pm. The Novotel Hong Kong Citygate prices at US$115 against US$172 per night, and the Silveri Hong Kong at US$113 against US$170. hotelSlots carries US inventory only, so it holds no mainland China property.
A property that sells both windows sets the day rate from the same cost base as its overnight rate. The 911.04 yuan trip average moves the day-rate arithmetic with it.