Known as the “Golden Week”, China’s week-long National Day holiday (1-7 October 2018) has seen the greatest growth in flight bookings from Japan, the United States and Australia to China, according to analysis conducted by Travelport the leading travel commerce platform.
In addition to these three countries, others increasingly impacted by China’s Golden Week holiday include Hong Kong, Cambodia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the Philippines, Germany and Vietnam. All of them have seen comparatively large growth in flight bookings to China for the period of Golden Week.
Flight bookings made2 in Japan to China for 1-7 October through all global distribution systems (GDS) increased by 8,853, up 37.5% compared to the same period in 2017. Bookings made in the United States to China rose by 4,772 (+18.9%) and in Australia by 2,537 (+29.9%).
Among the other markets, inbound flight bookings to China for the Golden Week period has almost doubled in Cambodia (+136.9%) and Turkey (+100%).
Global distribution systems (GDS) are vast hi-tech mass-volume reservation networks that allow travel agents, travel management companies and large corporations, among others, to search and book airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars and other travel-related items. Globally in 2017, Travelport alone processed one trillion transactions through its platform.
Ming Foong, Regional Managing Director of Asia at Travelport, commented: “Most locations listed have been long-term tourist hotspots for Chinese outbound travellers. The reciprocal growth in flight bookings to China for the Golden Week period demonstrates the market’s continuing attraction and its strong airline capacity satisfying the demands of the busiest travel season of China. We also cannot neglect the increasing business and tourist appeal of China’s Golden Week to travellers from these markets. The flow of holiday travellers goes two ways.”
“The impact of Golden Week has gone far beyond the borders of China and exerted great influence on the other parts of the world,” said Ming. “Travel agents, airlines and other industry players should capitalize on this phenomenal opportunity. At Travelport, we are poised to support such growth efforts with data analytics offerings, mobile solutions and the other technological advances. Airlines can also consider solutions such as Rich Content and Branding to add depth to their product’s visual display to travel agents, improving merchandising, content details and parity for better differentiation and securing a greater competitive.”
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