Global travel distribution company DidaTravel released a report on the key travel trends for the Lunar New Year on Wednesday, 22nd January.
This year, the Lunar New Year festivities run for eight days, from Tuesday, 28th January, to Tuesday, 4th February.
According to DidaTravel's booking data, total outbound hotel bookings during the Chinese New Year showed a 48 percent increase compared to 2024.
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For outbound mainland Chinese travellers, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong SAR, the USA, Australia, Iceland, and Spain emerged as the top destinations.
Japan outbound hotel bookings by Chinese travellers have tripled, with USA bookings more than doubling YoY.
Short-haul Asian destinations like Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, and long-haul countries such as Italy, New Zealand, France, the UK, Finland, and Switzerland also remained popular.
Norway made its debut in the top 20 destinations list during Chinese New Year.
Hotel bookings are up
The average daily rate (ADR) for hotels globally increased by nearly 10 percent year-on-year (YoY) during this holiday.
However, the share of five-star hotel bookings decreased from 32.2 percent to 26.5 percent, while bookings for three- to four-star hotels saw a notable rise.
The average length of stay for Chinese travellers per hotel remained steady at 3 days, the same as last year.
Travellers also showed a trend of planning and booking earlier with the advance booking windows increasing from 45 to 54 days.
DidaTravel’s head of hotel direct contracting Snow Xiao said: “We are thrilled to witness the emergence of new popular destinations for Chinese travellers and their growing willingness to venture to longer-haul destinations. We are also encouraged by the robust growth in inbound travel to China. The extended advance booking window demonstrates that travellers are embracing early planning and booking. We are well-positioned to adapt and capitalise on these trends through targeted marketing strategies, continuing to improve our portfolio and ultimately. enhancing the traveller experience.”
Inbound travel bookings to the Chinese mainland during Chinese New Year achieved double digit growth YOY, with top bookings made by travellers from South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Australia, Germany and the UK.
