Passengers are seen at a platform of Nanjing Railway Station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, May 1, 2026. (Photo by Yang Suping/Xinhua)

With one month still to go before the summer vacation season, summer travel bookings have already fully kicked off in China. Multiple travel agencies report steady growth in domestic travel bookings, while inbound tourist arrivals are projected to surge compared to the same period last year.

Even before the official start of the summer season, the number of group tourists has already surpassed the last year's figure, while booking for customized tours have doubled year-on-year. Looking ahead to the broader summer market, domestic tour volumes are seeing steady year-on-year growth. Meanwhile, inbound tourism bookings have already tripled for domestic travel agency Spring Tour, according to data that the platform sent to the Global Times on Sunday.

The travel agency noted that Shanghai and the broader Yangtze River Delta region will welcome a steady stream of international visitors this summer from countries including the US, Greece, Spain, the UK, Germany and Brazil. These inbound travelers are predominantly traveling in family units ranging from two to six people.

Parallel to the inbound surge, domestic destination preferences are shifting structurally this summer - moving steadily from first-tier cities to new first-tier and second- and third-tier cities, Xu Xiaolei, a marketing manager at CYTS Tours Holding Co, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Aside from traditional top travel destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province, a growing number of cities including Luoyang in Central China's Henan Province and Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province are reporting substantial growth in the tourism sector, driven by the pursuit of differentiated experiences, improved transportation networks, and the exploration of local characteristic resources, Xu said.

Regional highlights further underscore this trend. For example, driven by the word-of-mouth film hit Dear You, travel interest in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong continues to surge. Bookings on the Tuniu platform for summer tours to Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang have all more than doubled year-on-year.

Amid the rising momentum of summer vacation tourism, many local governments have rolled out targeted measures to boost tourism-related consumption.

South China's Hainan Province has rolled out more than 70 cultural, tourism and sports events along with multiple discounts province-wide to welcome graduating classes and summer vacationers. Meanwhile, visitors flying to Hainan can receive hotel and attraction coupons by uploading their flight itineraries via designated platforms, according to Hainan Daily.

The Chinese capital, Beijing, is hosting the 2026 Beijing Inbound Tourism Development Conference starting Monday. The six-day event adopts "Becoming Chinese" as its core theme and aims to release top 10 new inbound travel experience scenarios, offering global visitors high-quality solutions to deeply perceive the charm of Beijing's culture and tourism, according to the local government's website.

Supported by local governments, the trend of "Industry + Tourism" integration has become increasingly pronounced in recent years, with the collaboration of industries such as sports and live entertainment with the tourism sector forging a new landscape of industrial convergence and unleashing fresh growth drivers, Li Changan, an economist at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Represented by the tourism sector, domestic consumption hotspots have flourished across multiple fronts this summer. Experiential consumption, night tourism, and green wellness spending have collectively painted a new picture of the summer economy," Li said.

Looking ahead, more efforts are needed to enrich consumption scenarios, foster new forms of consumption, and refine supporting services. While supporting initiatives like summer cultural tourism, nighttime economies, and events, endeavors should also be made to propel emerging business formats, such as outdoor sports, to further unlock the potential of summer consumption, the expert said.