When the RMB exchange rate hovered around 7.2–7.3 in previous years, foreigners felt that prices in Shanghai were reasonable, making spending in US dollars very cost-effective. Meanwhile, wealthy domestic travelers found overseas trips too expensive and preferred to splurge on luxury hotel stays in China.
Now, the picture has flipped. The RMB has recently strengthened sharply, making it harder to retain high-net-worth domestic customers. At the same time, it also changes the math for foreign leisure travelers—and for MICE and corporate travel that is settled in US dollars.
At 6.85, the dollar has not only returned to the “6 range,” but the RMB-USD rate is also edging close to the pre-pandemic levels.
So what does a move from 7.3 to 6.85 actually mean?
For a foreign visitor to China, it means that with the same budget, what they can buy effectively shrinks by almost 10%. For a Chinese traveler going to Japan, Thailand, or Europe, their money suddenly goes further, triggering one of economics’ harshest substitution effects.
It’s not just hotels. A marketing executive at a major airline noted that since the last quarter of 2025, inbound and outbound traffic has begun to rebalance, unlike the first half of the year when inbound demand was disproportionately strong. Demand from Chinese travelers for international flights has surged.
To respond, the airline is urgently reallocating capacity, shifting several widebody planes originally scheduled for domestic trunk routes to serve Vietnam and South Korea instead.
According to CCTV Finance, during the 2026 Chinese New Year travel period, flight bookings to popular outbound destinations grew 80.2% year-on-year, and hotel bookings jumped 1.2 times.
In 2026, China’s tourism competitors are no longer neighboring provinces—they are destinations worldwide whose currencies are relatively weaker.
A stronger RMB has effectively pressed the accelerator on outbound travel that had been held back in recent years.
Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Spain… these destinations are back on the hot lists.
In 2026, China’s tourism competition is global, and a strong RMB is unleashing previously restrained outbound demand.
