Australia among top picks for Chinese tourists during Golden Week holiday
As China's week-long national day holiday comes to an end, data suggests an increase in flight bookings from China to Australia.
During China's week-long Golden Week holiday from October 1 to 7, Australia emerged as one of the most favored travel destinations, according to popular travel booking platform Trip.com. The company noted an uptick in passengers booking longer and further trips beyond the region this year.
Australian travel agent Zhang Cheng of Melbourne's Great Wall Travel Services reported a surge in bookings over the past week. Her agency caters primarily to Chinese-speaking tourists, but she's unsure of the exact breakdown between overseas tourists and those from Australia's Chinese-speaking community. Zhang described a surge in demand for two-day tours to the Great Ocean Road.
At the Whitsundays, Chinese tourists Fei Chang and her husband found themselves among the majority of visitors. Chang was surprised to find the island bustling with fellow Chinese tourists, with some tourist spots feeling like they were speaking Mandarin. She recalled, "At some tourist spots, it felt like I could almost speak Mandarin to everyone."
Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists usually traveled in large groups. However, Zhang noted a shift in preferences. "Now, they prefer quality trips in small groups or going on a road trip by themselves," she said. Guided-tour groups under the Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme, a bilateral agreement facilitating Chinese group tours to Australia, were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in 2023.
In 2019, more than 300,000 tourists joined an ADS group tour, but the number had dropped to 70,205 in the 2026 financial year.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
