If a year-end trip to China is on your list, the cities your friends are researching may not be the ones you’d guess. Traveloka‘s data for January to August 2026 shows China searches from Singapore up 132% on the same months in 2025. That is the highest growth of the five Southeast Asian markets the travel platform tracks, and the bookings behind those searches are heading north and far west.
How Traveloka Counted It
The figures come from Traveloka’s own searches and bookings. They compare January to August 2026 with January to August 2025 across the five markets, with Singapore as one of them. Read it as a picture of where Traveloka users are looking, rather than a headcount of every Singaporean who flew to China this year.
Within that window, Traveloka says the range of Chinese cities Singaporeans book has more than doubled year-on-year. Twice as many dots on the map in twelve months is a lot of new ground for a country that was already a regular China traveller.
North and Far West
The biggest single jump belongs to Urumqi, the far-western city that, according to Traveloka, saw the largest rise in popularity among Singaporeans. Harbin and Changchun, both in the cold north-east, follow with what the platform calls “burgeoning interest”. These cities sit a long way from the usual first-timer loop.
Changchun is the result to circle. Singaporeans book it at more than three times the rate of the five markets combined, so this is a Singapore quirk rather than a regional wave you’d see mirrored in Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok.
Shenyang and Kunming come in at nearly twice the combined rate. Shenyang adds weight to the north-east pattern, while Kunming is the one southern name on the list. It’s the pick for anyone who wants a less obvious city without heading into northern winter.
Gateways Still Lead
Before anyone declares Shanghai over, Traveloka’s numbers say the opposite. The established gateways remain Singapore’s most-booked China destinations, and the platform describes the newer cities as being added to itineraries rather than replacing the big names. For most travellers, that probably means a familiar arrival city with a far-flung leg tacked on.
Across the whole region, bookings to China’s “new first-tier” cities grew more than twice as fast as bookings to Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. “New first-tier” is the label for China’s large, fast-growing cities outside those four giants. If you’ve been eyeing somewhere like Wuxi, where Hilton turned a 1933 mansion into its first Jiangsu hotel, you’re riding the same current. Food planning travels with it, and the Trip.Gourmet China Travel Culinary List we covered in September spans 30 cities for international visitors working through menus and ordering.
What the 10.10 EPIC Sale Offered
Traveloka released the data alongside its 10.10 EPIC Sale, which ran from 1 to 10 October 2026 with China, Bali and Japan as its destination focus. Three Singapore offers headlined the sale: a China flights offer, a sitewide coupon, and an extra 20% off hotel flash sales.
Flat amounts and percentages behave differently, so here is how each one worked on example prices:
Above it, the 20% gave more, provided no cap applied.
Read the Terms First
A flat discount and a percentage only compare cleanly if they apply to the same booking, so the full terms on Traveloka’s sale page settled what each traveller received. Check them before counting on any figure above for a future sale.
🗓️ Date: 1 to 10 October 2026 (ended)
📍 Location: Traveloka, Singapore offers on the 10.10 EPIC Sale page
🌏 Destination focus: China, Bali and Japan
✈️ Flights: China flights offer
🎟️ Sitewide: Sitewide coupon
🏨 Hotels: Extra 20% off hotel flash sales
📊 The data: China searches from Singapore up 132%, January to August 2026 against 2025
The sale has closed, but the map it was built around keeps growing. Singaporeans are booking Changchun at more than three times the regional rate and pushing Urumqi up faster than anywhere else, so a Harbin winter or a Kunming escape no longer sounds like a strange plan for December. Keep an eye on Traveloka’s sale page for its next round of offers, and make the north-east the leg your group chat argues about this year!
Image: Jesse Collins / Unsplash.
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