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Chinese outbound travel hit 4.444 million exits over Golden Week 2026, with longer, multi-country trips. See what hotels, DMOs and DMCs should do.
China's immigration authority counted 4.444 million mainland resident exits over National Day 2026, up 9.3% year on year, while trips got longer and spread across more countries.
By the numbers: 15.46 million total border crossings
The National Immigration Administration (国家移民管理局, NIA) reported these figures for the 2026 holiday today.
Total exits and entries: 15.462 million, or 2.209 million a day, up 6.7% year on year.
Mainland resident exits: 4.444 million, up 9.3%.
Foreign entries: 682,000, up 5.4%. Of those, 505,000 used visa-free entry, up 9.2%.
Peak day: October 4, with 2.397 million crossings.
Flashback: Growth is cooling from a high base
Growth rates have slowed since the post-reopening surge, though volumes keep rising.
2024: the NIA counted 13.098 million crossings over National Day, up 25.8%. Mainland residents made 7.589 million trips, up 33.2%.
2025: the NIA reported 16.34 million crossings for Oct 1-8 (National Day plus Mid-Autumn), up 11.5%. Visa-free foreign entries rose 46.8% to 535,000.
The big picture: Take 3 days, get 13
Mid-Autumn and National Day fell three working days apart in 2026, so 3 days of leave ("请3休13") opened a 13-day window from September 25 to October 7, according to The Paper (澎湃新闻).
Ctrip (携程) says the share of outbound holiday-package travelers on trips of 8+ days rose from about 29% to about 42%. The report compares with 2024.
Tongcheng Travel (同程旅行), via Pinchain (品橙旅游), reports multi-country bookings up over 60%, averaging 2.8 countries and usually 7+ days. It also calls group and small-group tours the mainstream choice.
Qunar (去哪儿) says lesser-known cities in visa-free countries grew fastest. Nevsehir in Turkey rose 5x and Aktau in Kazakhstan 4.7x.
What to do: Sell the second city
Design offers around a 7+ day itinerary that passes through several cities.
Package second-city and extended-stay offers that a multi-country tour can slot in, and tell DMCs and small-group operators about them.
Optimize Chinese-language listings for OTAs and AI assistants. Fliggy (飞猪) says interactions with its AI assistant rose 158% versus the Mid-Autumn period.
Plan for demand spread over two weeks: set staffing and prices for an earlier, longer Chinese season starting in late September.
Sources
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