Ep 230: Deconstructing China's October Golden Week in Asia Pacific & Beyond, with Sienna Parulis-Cook, Dragon Trail International

China’s October National Day public holiday is the third ‘Golden Week’ of the year. In 2024, it just wrapped up amid a global sense that Chinese outbound tourism is definitively back. Twenty-one months after China reopened for travel, destinations across South East Asia, Asia Pacific and worldwide enjoyed their most optimistic Golden Week since the corresponding period way back in 2019. To discuss the top takeaways, Gary is joined by Sienna Parulis-Cook, Director of Marketing & Communications for Dragon Trail international.

In a broad-ranging discussion, we dissect various key issues, ranging from visa-free travel to events and festivals, and data from the top OTAs and niche booking platforms to the two most-visited destinations, Hong Kong and Macau. Intriguing Golden Week hotspots under discussion also include Georgia, Italy, Turkey, Japan and Malaysia, and we track the shifts in Chinese traveller sentiment from Dragon Trail’s new survey.

Plus, we chart the ongoing rise of red-hot travel and lifestyle app Xiaohongshu, and place our cards on the table about the Chinese travel trends to watch out for in 2025.