Chongqing — Data from Alipay, AI health app AQ, and navigation platform AMAP shows a sharp rise in Chinese tourists’ use of map navigation, payment services, and health consultations during the 2025 National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays.
Tourists visited the Grand Palace in Bangkok. (Photo/Wang Teng)
AMAP's data shows that the number of active Chinese users abroad increased by 41% during the holidays, while the number of users relying on AMAP for overseas driving navigation grew by 45%. The most popular foreign cities visited by Chinese tourists using AMAP were Singapore, Tokyo, and Bangkok.
Interestingly, the number of AMAP users traveling to see the "Mona Lisa" increased by 70% year-on-year. Meanwhile, a new trend emerged as Chinese tourists traveling in Europe increasingly sought out "toilets" using AMAP's navigation. The frequency of such searches surged by 220%.
Alipay's data on consumer payments reveals that one in two outbound travelers used Alipay for payments. Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia remain the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists, but some lesser-known European countries have also become emerging hotspots for Chinese spending.
Alipay’s rankings show that the top five countries where Chinese tourists spent the most through Alipay were Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The fastest-growing spending destinations included Greece, Laos, Nepal, Portugal, and Turkey.
In terms of spending categories, Chinese tourists most often used Alipay overseas to buy clothing, groceries, jewelry, dining, and cosmetics. On the food side, lesser-known destinations like Laos, Nepal, and Brunei are emerging as new favorites for Chinese travelers.
In health services, AQ data shows a 32 percent year-on-year rise in overseas health consultations by Chinese tourists during the holidays, with common concerns including diarrhea, fever, and travel-related illness.
The countries with the highest number of health consultation requests from Chinese tourists were the United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Vietnam. Additionally, Chinese tourists also sought health advice through AQ in less common destinations, such as Andorra, Suriname, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and Azerbaijan.
These statistics, provided by Alipay, AMAP, and AQ, reflect the overall trends in the demand for map navigation, payment services, and health consultations among Chinese tourists abroad, thanks to the high market share and user base these companies hold in China.
According to the third-party agency iiMedia Research, AMAP ranked first in China’s map navigation app market in 2024, with a market share of 46.17%. Meanwhile, data from the Payment & Clearing Association of China shows that Alipay held a 45.7% share of the country’s transaction volume in 2024. AQ, an independent AI health app launched by Ant Group, has accumulated over 140 million users since its test version was released in September 2024.