Bumper ‘Golden Week’ as Chinese make most of longer break
Holiday spending up and more outbound travellers ditch tour groups to go it alone
China’s transport system had to cope with millions more travellers during the National Day “Golden Week” as the number of trips made over the break rose 11.9 per cent compared with the same holiday last year, tourism authorities said on Sunday.
The National Tourism Administration said holidaymakers made 705 million domestic trips over the eight-day break and spent 583.6 billion yuan (US$87.68 billion), or 13.9 per cent more than last year.
The administration said the number of outbound tourists was roughly the same as last year at about 6 million, but more travellers were opting to go it alone rather than join a tour group.
In-depth sightseeing was also becoming a higher priority than shopping, it said.
An estimated 14 million passengers were expected to travel by rail on Sunday – the last day of the holiday – and an extra 920 trains were put into service to handle the additional demand, according to national operator China Railway.
