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This year’s National Day holiday coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, resulting in an extended 8-day “super long golden week.”

Recently, reporters have learned from various online travel platforms and offline travel agency stores that bookings for travel during the “October 1” holiday are steadily rising, with popular travel routes experiencing a surge in reservations, and some products have already sold out ahead of time.

Fu Yifu, a special researcher at Suzhou Commercial Bank, stated in an interview with reporters: “This year’s ‘October 1’ golden week tourism consumption market will exhibit the following distinct characteristics: First, people are making travel plans earlier than in previous years and are inclined to choose domestic long-distance travel products; second, a new diverse consumption pattern is gradually taking shape, with products such as deep experience tours, themed custom tours, and cultural exploration tours emerging to meet the diverse needs of consumers.”

According to the latest “World Tourism Barometer” released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization on the 9th, global international visitor arrivals are expected to increase by 5% year-on-year in the first half of 2025. The statistics provided by this UN agency show that approximately 690 million outbound trips were made globally in the first half of this year, an increase of about 33 million trips compared to the same period last year. The Asia-Pacific region experienced an overall growth of 11%. Spain ranked among the top in terms of growth in international visitor arrivals. The report also revised the data on international visitor arrivals for 2024, confirming that it is slightly higher than the levels of 2019, indicating that the international tourism industry has recovered last year.

The organization predicts that despite the ongoing uncertainties in the economy and geopolitical landscape, international visitor arrivals for the entire year are still expected to grow by 3% to 5%, with overall global tourism demand remaining resilient.

Morgan Stanley has released a research report projecting that the inbound tourism retail market in China will grow more than threefold over the next decade, increasing from $14 billion in 2024 to $60 billion by 2034, with its share of China’s overall tourism retail market rising from 10% to 25%. The increase in the number of globally recognized brands and the continuously optimized shopping experience are key driving factors.

Morgan Stanley pointed out that China’s leading consumer electronics products, along with brands like Pop Mart, are rising globally, which will attract tourists to China and stimulate shopping demand. At the same time, the prices of Chinese products are internationally competitive. Furthermore, policy support is expected to promote duty-free and tax refund shopping, optimizing the shopping experience. Retailers, shopping malls, and duty-free operators within China will benefit the most.

Tourism-related Hong Kong stocks:

OTA travel platforms: Trip.Com Group-S (09961), Tongcheng Travel (00780)

Tourism industry chain: Macao sector, China Travel International (00308), China Duty Free Group (01880), Huazhu Group-S (01179)