Outbound Tourism Grows in Chinese New Year Holiday

While some are on a train home, others are busy flying abroad.

More and more Chinese chose spend their Spring Festival holiday traveling. The number of people who enjoyed the week-long holiday break overseas grew by 28 percent, according to Alibaba.

Many of them are middle-aged, born between 1960 and 1979, Alipay said. They are catching up with the younger generation on mobile payment and have become the most significant spenders while traveling abroad, Nielsen and Alipay reported.

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England was the top choice, with a 70 percent year-on-year increase. Russia, Europe, Cambodia and Japan were among the other popular destinations.

According to Xinhua news, 415 million trips grossed 513.9 billion yuan (76.14 billion dollars) in tourism revenue from Feb. 4 to 10, a respective year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent and 8.2 percent.

Overseas consumption from third- and fourth-tier cities climbed the most. The top three saw an over 40 percent growth; Zhoushan peaked with a 55 percent hike. Beijing ranked the fourth.

“We are excited to see the robust growth in the use of Alipay by overseas travelers from third-and-fourth tier cities and middle-aged vacationers. This really highlights how mobile payment is taking root in China’s outbound tourism market,” said Janice Chen, Head of Business Operation, Cross-Border Business, Alipay.

Featured photo credit to Ant Financial