China’s outbound market is no longer in “revenge travel” mode. It’s normalising but around a very different traveller mix. China Trading Desk's latest surveys demonstrate that travel budgets are solidly back, with new segments among Chinese travellers reshaping how they discover, approach and experience airport and downtown duty-free.

Duty-free sales have surged in Hainan since an island-wide ‘seal-off’ was introduced on 18 December. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs and reported by state media, between 1 December 2025 and 10 January 2026, revenue hit RMB38.9 billion/$5.6 billion, with sales volumes rising by 49.6% year-on year.

China’s hotels are welcoming record numbers of travelers, yet room rates are sinking — aparadox many operators blame on Trip.com Group Ltd.

On a recent train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, half the carriage was occupied by travelers from China. The group, made up of all ages, was on its way to Russia’s imperial capital as part of an organised Chinese tour group, one of the first since Moscow opened its doors to Chinese nationals without requiring a visa last month.

For most of 2025, global travel retail kept circling around the same question: “Is China back to 2019 levels?” It sounds like strategy. It’s really nostalgia. Yes, volumes recovered, seats were filled. terminals got noisy again. On many dashboards, the story looked reassuring: traffic lines mostly pointing up, Chinese share of passenger mix climbing, familiar nationalities returning to familiar hubs. But if 2019 is still your reference point, you’ve already missed the

South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand are projected to be the three most popular destinations for Chinese tourists in 2026. Meanwhile, the number of these tourists to Japan is at risk of declining by nearly 50%.

China's outbound tourism industry quickly recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, but the era of duty-free shopping sprees seems to be over.

China’s outbound travel sector has bounced back from the pandemic, but the era of duty-free shopping sprees appears to be over.

China’s vast outbound travel market is set for further growth in 2026, boosted by the spread of visa-free policies for Chinese nationals and a stronger yuan. But visits to Japan could plummet by nearly 50 per cent amid a political dispute between Beijing and Tokyo, according to analysts and industry insiders.