Chinese international bookings are up sharply this year for the upcoming National Day Holiday, as tourists rediscover their taste for overseas travel after a three-year pause during the pandemic. Outbound bookings for the weeklong holiday that starts Oct. 1 have doubled from a year ago, while visa applications for popular destinations are up by over 70%, according to Caixin.

A major factor fueling the return to foreign travel is falling airfares as the number of flights between China and the rest of the world returns to pre-pandemic levels. Tickets to Japan, Singapore and Britain being sold on Ctrip, the Chinese version of Trip.com, were down by an average of 30% from the same time last year, according to Caixin.

By Doug Young

To subscribe to Bamboo Works free weekly newsletter, click here

Recent Articles

Butong gets set for IPO

BRIEF: Hesai jumps in Hong Kong trading debut

Shares of autonomous driving technology company  Hesai Group (2525.HK; HSAI.US) opened up 7.7% in their Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday, and continued to rise during the morning to close up…

BRIEF: Sainsbury ends talks with JD.com on Argos sale

E-commerce giant JD.com Inc. (9618.HK, JD.US) has been actively seeking acquisitions of brick-and-mortar retailers in Europe, but that expansion suffered a setback with the collapse of a deal in the…