China’s May Day travel surges but spending chases ‘value’ in budget-conscious pivot
Thousands of domestic train services added on last day of ‘golden week’ to meet record demand, and high energy costs affect consumer spending
China’s Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday that “cross-regional” trips during the holiday reached nearly 1.52 billion, a 3.49 per cent increase over the 2025 break, and a record high for the period.
The 24.84 million railway trips on the first day of the break were a single-day high, according to official data from the China State Railway Group. The railway operator reported a total of 117 million trips from Friday to Monday, covering most of the “golden week” that ran through Tuesday to commemorate China’s Labour Day.
To handle the return-traffic surge, the state-run railway system said it added 2,225 train services on Tuesday.
“China’s May Day holiday again showed the enormous scale of domestic mobility,” said Subramania Bhatt, CEO of the technology and marketing firm China Trading Desk. The firm’s data tracked more than 300 million domestic trips over the holiday.
China Trading Desk estimated 3 million outbound trips from mainland China, and the bulk were concentrated in next-door regions such as Hong Kong and Macau. However, travellers are increasingly venturing farther afield to unconventional value destinations – ranging from the snorkelling waters of Zanzibar to the mountain-rimmed Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan – according to state media.