According to the China Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of outbound travelers from China exceeded 7 million over Golden Week 2019.
And while Chinese travelers explored more destinations this year, their consumption was more reserved than in 2018.
WeChat recently released its Golden Week 2019 report. Let’s check out this year compared with 2018.
Top 5 Overseas Travel Destinations
Over Golden Week (which lasts 7 days), Chinese travelers visited Thailand, the United States, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the greatest numbers. Interestingly, the US is the only country outside of Asia, and it ranked number 2, even over Japan. And the remotest place users traveled was Renca in central Chile.
Top 5 Chinese Cities with the Largest Number of Overseas Travelers
- Shanghai
- Beijing
- Shenzhen
- Guangzhou
- Foshan
During Golden Week, WeChat users from tier 1 cities preferred overseas travel, while users from tier 2 cities exhibited huge potential for outbound travel. Chengdu, Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Wuhan are core tier 2 cities in the northwest and Yangtze River delta areas that exhibited more outbound travel trends than previous years.
Among them, overseas travelers from Foshan and Dongguan (both in Guangdong province) increased rapidly: In fact, the number of overseas travelers from Foshan went up a staggering 65% over last year.
To summarize: Over Golden Week 2019, Chinese people from tier 1 and tier 2 cities widely used WeChat Pay when traveling abroad, while those from tier 3 cities increased in their preference to travel abroad and use WeChat Pay.
Top 5 Countries using WeChat Pay
Japan posted the largest number of WeChat Pay transactions during Golden Week, followed by Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and Singapore. In 2018, Thailand was the top foreign country for WeChat Pay transactions. People primarily paid at restaurants, retail outlets, tax-free shops, pharmacies, supermarkets, etc.
Top 5 Countries using WeChat Mini Programs
WeChat Mini Programs were popular overseas during Golden Week 2019, particularly in China’s favorite outbound travel destinations. In America, Malaysia, and Korea, WeChat Mini Programs were used most frequently. Meanwhile, WeChat Mini Program use increased in Japan, Australia, and Canada.
