Chinese Traveler Sentiment Report: April 2025

It has now been more than two years since China reopened for outbound tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic. The recovery has been gradual but sustained, with traveler numbers reaching or even surpassing pre-pandemic levels in many destinations in 2024. This upwards trend is set to continue in 2025, as evidenced by flight bookings and destinations’ arrivals numbers over the Chinese New Year period earlier in the year, and by the findings of our newest Chinese Traveler Sentiment Survey, conducted between 12–18 March, with 1,022 respondents. In the survey data, we continue to see increased openness and interest in outbound travel among Chinese consumers, as the fears and obstacles of the pandemic years fade away.

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The results of the survey highlight many key trends in the post-pandemic Chinese outbound tourism market. One of these is the strength of regional travel, particularly Northeast Asia, where Japan has emerged as a significant hotspot in the last year.

This edition of our survey takes an in-depth look at the Chinese outbound traveler’s digital journey, from inspiration and information gathering to booking and sharing. Here, we repeatedly see the importance of Chinese social media platforms, especially for younger generations. The most influential of these now is undoubtedly Xiaohongshu, also known by its new English name, RedNote. While OTAs such as Ctrip remain essential for booking and planning, Xiaohongshu has become the most important source of travel information for under-35s.

Safety is another major topic to come up once again in the current survey – it’s far and away the biggest concern for Chinese travelers when planning an outbound trip. The good news is that safety perceptions continue to improve for nearly all destinations on our list, though safety fears definitely seem to be holding back tourism recovery to Thailand and its neighbors.

Looking forward to the future of global travel, we delved into the topic of sustainability in this survey – with findings that may surprise readers and illuminate how Chinese consumers understand the topic. With greater emphasis on communities rather than carbon emissions, the Chinese take on sustainable travel is also an important one to consider as we reimagine the future of tourism.

These are our 6 top takeaways from the report:

1) Chinese travelers’ intentions to travel outbound continue to increase
We have seen a continuous increase in outbound travel intention among Chinese consumers over the past several years. As of mid-March 2025, 75% of survey respondents were interested in traveling outbound this year or had already made an outbound trip. This is the highest percentage since we began asking Chinese travelers about their outbound travel plans in December 2022.

2) Most trips will be within Asia, but interest in all other regions has grown
Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore all ranked highest for trips that survey respondents have already taken in 2025 or plan to take later in the year. The proportion of survey respondents traveling within Asia is even higher than one year ago, and Northeast Asia has surpassed Europe to be the most coveted travel destination.

At the same time, interest in travel to all other world regions has also grown since last year.

3) Safety perceptions continue to improve, but concerns about Southeast Asia persist
Perceptions of safety have improved for almost every country included in our survey. However, safety perceptions for Thailand have declined, and Vietnam and Cambodia also received relatively low safety scores. It’s likely that worries about organized crime in the region is an important factor behind survey respondents’ decreasing interest in traveling to Southeast Asia.

4) There’s a generational divide when it comes to destination information sources
Ctrip is the most widely used channel for outbound destination information among Chinese outbound travelers (69%), especially for the 45–65 age group, with 76% of them choosing the OTA. But among travelers aged 18–34, Xiaohongshu (aka RedNote) ranks higher as a source of destination information.

5) Social connections – and social media – inspire Chinese outbound travelers
Friends, family, and other acquaintances are important sources of inspiration for Chinese outbound travelers (39%), second only to social media (50%). Moreover, 94% of travelers share their own travel experiences online, providing valuable reference information to others. Destinations should consider how to best leverage this UGC to attract future visitors.

6) For Chinese travelers, “sustainability” is more about communities than carbon
In China, the concept of sustainability is tied more closely to the economic and cultural wellbeing of local communities, rather than reducing one’s carbon footprint. Understanding this different approach to the topic of sustainability is essential to engaging in meaningful dialogue about sustainable travel with Chinese consumers and the Chinese travel industry.

About this report

The April 2025 Chinese Traveler Sentiment Report is published by Dragon Trail Research (a division of Dragon Trail International), based on our own survey of 1,022 Chinese travelers in first-tier, new first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities throughout China. In addition to these reports, Dragon Trail Research also offers a number of services to travel brands and businesses, including bespoke consumer and trade surveys, focus groups and more. Please click here or contact us for more information on how we can help you get the information you need on China’s travel market.

About Dragon Trail

Dragon Trail Research is a division of Dragon Trail International, an award-winning marketing solutions company with roots in China and extensive experience in the global travel and MICE sectors. Since 2009, our international team of digital solutions and marketing specialists has been helping leading brands around the world to become more globally connected and competitive. Our clients span the travel, MICE, education, and trade sectors, including national and regional destination marketing organizations, event organizers, international organizations, hotels, airlines, cruise lines, attractions, retailers and more.