May Day travel bookings surge, signal robust Q2 consumption growth: expert

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By Qi Xijia (Global Times) 10:28, April 21, 2025

As China gears up for the May Day holidays, a wave of travel bookings has swept across online travel platforms, painting a vivid picture of a burgeoning consumer market, which signals robust consumption growth for the second quarter, a Chinese expert said.

Data from major online travel platforms reveal a tourism boom marked by explosive domestic demand, booming inbound travel and the rapid rise of services powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The domestic travel demand is particularly striking this year. Tuniu.com told the Global Times on Sunday that domestic travel reservations for the five-day May Day holidays have more than doubled year-on-year.

Tongcheng Travel said in a report sent to the Global Times that "the travel fever during the 2025 May Day holidays is expected to reach its highest point since 2023."

Data from Trip.com showed that in just the past week, domestic hotel searches soared 100 percent week-on-week, while flight ticket searches spiked 80 percent.

Meituan Travel said that since early April, searches for "May Day travel" have increased by more than 500 percent year-on-year, searches for "tourist attractions" have risen 167 percent and the popularity of five-star hotels has climbed nearly 40 percent.

The trends in this year's May Day travel market are diverse and eye-catching. Inbound tourism has experienced explosive growth, with Trip.com reporting that the search index for inbound hotels during the May Day holiday period has surged 200 percent year-on-year, while inbound tourism bookings have increased by 173 percent. The viral success of American YouTuber IShowSpeed's China travel series and recent policies like the instant tax refund for overseas tourists have significantly contributed to this growth, according to Trip.com.

The integration of AI into travel services is also an emerging trend this year. As more travelers seek personalized experiences, platforms like Fliggy are offering AI trip design experiences. Its newly launched AI function allows users to interact via text or voice, and even in different Chinese dialects. In response, it generates comprehensive travel plans that seamlessly combine images, product links and scenic spot information, even creating hand-drawn travel guides, the Global Times learned from the platform on Sunday.

Economists are optimistic about the far-reaching impact of these trends. "Major holidays serve as key barometers of consumer trends. The current data from online platforms paint an extremely promising picture," Hu Qimu, a deputy secretary-general of the Digital-Real Economies Integration Forum 50, told the Global Times on Sunday. "This holiday consumption surge is set to further accelerate overall consumption growth in the second quarter."

Hu emphasized that tourism spending extends beyond direct services sector stimulation. "It triggers a ripple effect across upstream and downstream industries, driving demand for cultural and creative products, tourism real estate and more, underscoring the sector's potential to drive economic growth," he added.

Official data already reflect positive momentum. First-quarter retail sales expanded 4.6 percent year-on-year, 1.1 percentage points faster than in 2024, reaching 12.47 trillion yuan ($1.73 trillion), according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Notably, services consumption outpaced goods sales, with retail sales of services growing 5 percent year-on-year. Per capita expenditure on transportation and communications rose 10.4 percent, while spending on education, culture and entertainment increased 13.9 percent, according to Xinhua.

In March, China released special initiatives to increase consumption, as the world's second-largest economy moves to make domestic demand the main engine and anchor of economic growth. The plan, organized into eight major sections, adopts a holistic approach by simultaneously addressing factors such as income growth, services consumption quality enhancement, big-ticket consumption upgrading and consumption environment improvement.

Consumption is playing an increasingly pivotal role in driving economic growth. These policy measures have effectively mitigated previous consumption constraints. The consumer market has been on an upward trajectory since the fourth quarter of last year, and this positive momentum is only set to strengthen, Hu said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)