Here’s Jing Travel’s weekly guide to stories that give insight into Chinese travel trends and how they affect the industry’s main players.

The recently-extended Tomb Sweeping Day (Qing Ming) holiday has begun and Chinese travelers are taking advantage by maximizing their itineraries to fit into the four days off from work. With fewer Chinese tourists taking additional paid time off to extend the official government holiday, the majority will set out to domestic or short-haul destinations, which should be a boon for countries like Japan and Singapore.


Israel Sees Growing Chinese Arrivals

The Dan Jerusalem Hotel hosted a “Made for China” conference last week that focused on promoting tourism to Israel to the growing Chinese market. Israel has been of interest for more travelers recently, and some hotels have taken notice as they have introduced more Chinese cuisine for their guests. Data for February showed a significant increase in hotel stays over the same period last year, and the rise is attributed to an increase in Chinese tourists during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Shangri-La Named Official Hotel for Beijing Winter Olympics

Luxury hotel brand Shangri-La is developing its newest hotel in Shougang Park, Beijing, and it has been named the official hotel of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The hotel, which is set to be completed in 2021, will host the Olympic event reception. The Shangri-La Group also announced that it is the first hotel chain in China to accept room deposits via WeChat Pay. The payment acceptance will be rolled out to all of the hotel properties by the end of May. Shangri-La says that using WeChat Pay “will help reduce the risk of any transaction dispute.”

Is Douyin the New Destination Marketing Channel?

Douyin has been growing rapidly in China, and travel industry players should pay attention to this social media channel. The visual aspect as well as the brevity of videos can work to the advantage of destinations seeking to attract younger travelers eager to explore the world.

New Zealand Kicks off Year of Tourism

The China-New Zealand Year of Tourism kicked off on March 30 at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington. China is the second largest tourism source market and is set to overtake Australia as the largest revenue source by 2024, according to the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

Qingming Boosts Tourism Numbers       

China is expected to see more than 110 million trips taken – both domestic and international — during the four-day Tomb Sweeping (Qingming) holiday that started on April 5. The holiday has also seen 50 percent from last year for homestay bookings on the platform Tujia. About 35 percent of Chinese outbound tourists renting cars from Zuzu Che (租租车) will travel for fewer than five days during the holiday, though that figure is not indicative of the overall outbound travel market.

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