An inflow of foreign tourists is expected during China's upcoming National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with dozens of cities across the country seeing a spike in international airline and hotel bookings, according to online travel booking platforms.
The holiday period will run from Oct 1 to 8 this year.
Data showed that as of Friday, bookings for inbound and outbound air tickets exceeded 800,000, and international hotel reservations reached 2,852 cities worldwide.
The bookings indicate that a rush of foreign tourists are planning to visit China during the holiday to experience the festive atmosphere. International visitors have booked stays covering nearly 100 cities in China, with the largest increases in the cities of Hefei, Quanzhou, and Guiyang.
Another attractive destination, Zhangjiajie City of central China's Hunan Province, is drawing inbound tourism with its beautiful natural scenery and unique traditional culture.
"I'm also very interested in the local folk culture and cuisine of Zhangjiajie. My mom will soon come here, and we all are waiting, and we are all looking forward to the upcoming journey," said Russian tourist Anastasia.
Bookings for the holiday period have also surged at many village guesthouses. Deng Kaiyou, who manages a local farm stay, said that compared to previous years, bookings by foreign tourists have increased significantly.
In addition to the traditionally expected visitors from European and American countries, bookings by tourists from SCO member states increased significantly.
"Our farm stay is nearly 100 percent reserved for the first three days of the National Day holiday, and over 90 percent for the following days. Foreign guests accounted for around 40 percent of our stays," Deng said.
Bookings from foreign tourists surge in China for upcoming holiday
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
