Chinese Travellers Are Buying 13-Day Golden Weeks — and Booking Seven-Night Stays 123% More Often

A calendar quirk has handed Chinese travellers one of the longest holidays in years, and Trip.com Group's booking data suggests operators outside China should be watching the length of stay as closely as the volume.

Because the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the Friday before Golden Week begins on 1 October, workers who take three days off can stitch the two holidays into a 13-day break. Trip.com Group says outbound departures will start spiking as early as 25 September, with average trip length running past nine days. More than half of outbound flight bookings are for departures before the official holiday starts, with daily departure peaks on 25 and 30 September.

Longer stays, more cities

The length effect shows up directly in accommodation demand. Bookings for hotel stays of seven nights or more are up 123% year on year, with even faster growth in major European cities including London and Paris. Long-haul flight bookings are set for double-digit growth, concentrated on gateway cities in Europe, Australia and the United States.

Multi-destination itineraries are up 84% year on year. Popular pairings include Singapore–Bali, Hong Kong–Sydney and Amsterdam–Milan.

Where the demand is going

Searches for "scenic trips" and "nature getaways" rose 53%. Domestically, Qingdao, Lhasa and Kashgar are among the fastest-growing destinations by flight, while Xiangxi, Zhangjiajie and Guilin are gaining among rail travellers.

Outbound, Jeju and Bali rank in the top ten most-booked flight destinations. Flight bookings to Cebu and Phuket are up 111% and 78% respectively. Brussels and Athens are among the European cities posting significant gains.

The 18-to-24 age group shows the highest year-on-year booking growth of any cohort. New Zealand is emerging with them: Queenstown up 314% and Auckland up 276%. Secondary cities including Incheon and Chiang Mai are also growing fast in that group.

Inbound and intra-Asia

Inbound demand into China is rising too. Lesser-known cities such as Yanji, Dunhuang and Hailar are seeing some of the fastest increases in flight bookings, while Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou continue to draw visitors from Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. Trip.com's free Beijing Express layover tour is one route into that demand — the Mutianyu Great Wall leg accounts for more than half of all Beijing Express bookings.

Globally, Seoul is the top Golden Week destination, with international flight bookings up 91%. Busan, Cheongju and Daegu all show three-digit growth. South Korea's own Chuseok holiday overlaps this year, and Korean travellers taking 19–27 September off have driven flight bookings to Fukuoka and Shanghai up 70% and 68%.

Year-on-year figures compare daily volume averages for the 2026 travel window against Golden Week 2025 (1–8 October 2025).