Grab Thailand: Chinese Tourist Rides Up 75% as Xiaohongshu Searches Pass 13 Million Before Golden Week 2026

Grab Thailand said on 1 October 2026 that ride bookings by Chinese tourists grew more than 75% year on year in 2026, and that Thailand travel keywords drew more than 13 million searches on Xiaohongshu among users in China this year. The figures come from Grab's Grab Grand Golden Week press release, published on the first day of China's Golden Week holiday (1 to 7 October 2026) and also covered by the Thai marketing outlet Marketing Oops. The release names the Bangkok neighbourhoods, secondary cities, shrines and dishes where Grab recorded the sharpest growth. Grab's ride figures compare 1 January to 15 September 2026 with the same period of 2025. The release gives growth rates only, without absolute trip counts.

What Grab Thailand's Golden Week 2026 data shows

The release opens with arrivals. Panomkorn Jirasatienpong, Marketing Director at Grab Thailand (his Thai title is assistant managing director for marketing), said Chinese visitors were again Thailand's largest international group in 2026, with more than 3.82 million arrivals between 1 January and 26 September 2026. That arrivals figure comes from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, not from Grab. On Grab's own platform, ride bookings by Chinese tourists were more than 75% higher than a year earlier, based on round-trip bookings from 1 January to 15 September 2026 against the same period of 2025.

Grab tied that growth to how Chinese travellers plan. Panomkorn said Chinese tourists commonly use social platforms such as Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNote) to find destinations and plan trips to Thailand, and that Thailand travel keywords generated more than 13 million searches among users in China this year. Grab cites Xiaohongshu itself as the source of that number.

Golden Week matters because of what happened last year. Grab said ride-hailing demand during Golden Week typically rises by almost 90% compared with regular periods, based on round-trip ride bookings from 1 to 7 October 2025.

The key figures are summarised here, with the source or period Grab gave for each one.

Micro-neighbourhoods are pulling Chinese FIT travellers away from classic sights

Grab says social-media-inspired travel remains popular with Chinese tourists, and that unusual activities and photogenic places increasingly shape where they go. Marketing Oops frames this as younger Chinese free independent travellers (FIT) moving away from the standard sightseeing circuit. Grab's ride data for three Bangkok areas carries most of that argument.

• Song Wat: rides to and from this old Bangkok neighbourhood, now known for cafes, restaurants, shops and street art, rose tenfold.
• Khlong Bang Luang floating market: rides grew more than twelvefold, the highest multiple in the release. Grab says visitors go to experience the canal-side community and local way of life.
• Pak Khlong Talat: rides to the flower market nearly doubled. Grab links this to the trend of wearing "Malai Rad Klao" lotus garlands as hair accessories, which it says was inspired by Thai youth culture.

None of these three places is a large paid attraction. They are neighbourhoods with many small businesses: cafes, galleries, flower stalls, dress-rental shops and photographers. That is the practical point for marketers. When demand moves from a single landmark to a district, the businesses that benefit are the ones a visitor can find, read about and navigate to in a language they understand.

Secondary cities and Mutelu travel

Beyond Bangkok and the major destinations of Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Phuket, Grab said Chiang Rai ranks as the most popular secondary city among Chinese tourists, who are drawn to Wat Rong Khun (the White Temple) and Wat Rong Suea Ten (the Blue Temple). Grab called Lamphun a rising destination, with ride bookings up more than fourfold.

The second trend in this section is Mutelu, spiritual tourism built around shrines and blessings. Grab said rides to the Ganesha Shrine in Huai Khwang, visited for blessings for success, and the Trimurti Shrine at centralwOrld, a popular spot for love blessings, both increased by 45%.

For businesses outside Bangkok, Lamphun's growth is the more interesting number. A fourfold rise suggests a city that was barely on the Chinese FIT map is being added to northern itineraries, possibly as a short trip from Chiang Mai, although Grab does not say how visitors are combining destinations. Hotels, cafes and transport operators in such places usually have thin Chinese-language information online, so the gap between demand and discoverability is likely wider there than in central Bangkok.

Food tourism: Banthat Thong, mango sticky rice and durian sticky rice

Grab's food data is specific. Banthat Thong ranked as the most popular district among Chinese tourists, followed by Ratchada and Rama 9-RCA, and ride bookings to and from Banthat Thong rose threefold.

• Most Chinese tourists were looking for seafood and hotpot. Grab named Som Som Seafood on Banthat Thong Road, plus Kodtalay Seafood Buffet and Loong Mala Hotpot in Rama 9-RCA, as places that often draw long queues. Nueng Nom Nua, a fresh milk and homemade bread shop on Banthat Thong Road, also draws crowds of Chinese visitors throughout the day.
• Mango sticky rice remained the most popular Thai dessert among Chinese tourists, with GrabFood orders up more than 50%, based on order volume from 1 January to 15 September 2026.
• Durian sticky rice was the top-trending menu search, with more than 27,000 searches in the Grab app between January and August 2026.

The durian sticky rice figure is worth noting because it is search data, not order data. It shows what visitors are actively looking for inside a delivery app. A restaurant that sells the dish but lists it under a different name, or without a photo, may not be returned for that search at all. Grab does not say whether those 27,000 searches were made in Chinese, Thai or English, which matters for how menus should be labelled.

How Grab is marketing to Chinese visitors for Nihao Month 2026

Grab said it launched a campaign called Grab Grand Golden Week in support of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) Nihao Month 2026 project, aiming to position Thailand as a preferred and trusted destination. Panomkorn described three parts:

1. Content before the trip: partnering with influencers on Xiaohongshu to create content about the latest Thai travel trends and destinations.
2. Trust on arrival: promoting Grab's safety features and rides with Chinese-speaking drivers, and installing Chinese-language pickup and drop-off signage at popular tourist destinations.
3. On-ground activity: troops and pop-up booths in key tourist areas, including Banthat Thong, Yaowarat and ICONSIAM, offering ride and food delivery promotions.

The structure is useful even for a business far smaller than Grab. It covers the planning stage (Xiaohongshu), the moment of arrival (language, signage, safety) and the place itself (activity in the neighbourhoods where visitors already are). Most Thai tourism businesses only work on the last of those.

What the release did not say

The figures are useful, but readers should know their limits before building a plan around them.

• Grab gives growth rates and multiples only. It does not say how many rides Chinese tourists took in absolute terms, so a twelvefold rise could start from a small base.
• The ride data ends on 15 September 2026, while the arrivals figure runs to 26 September 2026, so the two are not exactly the same window.
• The mango sticky rice footnote gives the 2026 order window but does not spell out what the 50% growth is compared with.
• The 90% Golden Week figure describes the 2025 holiday. Grab did not publish a forecast for 2026.
• The release does not explain how Xiaohongshu counted the 13 million searches beyond "users in China" and "this year".

Grab's data also only covers people who use Grab. Chinese visitors on group tours, or those using other ride-hailing apps, are not in it. That is a reason to treat the numbers as a strong directional signal about independent travellers, not as a census of Chinese tourism.

Why Xiaohongshu search is the planning layer to watch

The 13 million figure is the most strategic number in the release, because it sits upstream of every ride and food order. A Chinese visitor who decides to go to Song Wat or Lamphun usually makes that choice while scrolling notes and search results on Xiaohongshu, weeks before landing. Grab's own decision to put influencer content on Xiaohongshu first in its campaign points the same way.

For Thai brands, this likely means two things. First, a presence on Xiaohongshu (an official account, creator collaborations, or at minimum content that creators can reuse) matters more for this audience than a strong Facebook or Instagram page. Second, the platform behaves like a search engine for travel planning, so the wording in titles and captions affects whether a note is found. A cafe in Song Wat that appears in notes using the district's Chinese name has a better chance of being planned into an itinerary than one that only uses the Thai name.

What to check before and after Golden Week

The following checklist is analysis based on Grab's figures, not guidance from Grab.

• Map listings in Chinese: check how your business name, address and opening hours appear on Google Maps and other map apps, and whether a visitor can find you by a Chinese name. Accurate pins matter more when the visitor arrives by ride-hailing.
• Pickup points: if you are in a lane or a market that drivers struggle to find, give visitors a clear pickup and drop-off point in writing. Grab is putting up Chinese signage for the same reason.
• Delivery menus: make sure dishes such as mango sticky rice and durian sticky rice are listed under the names people search for, with photos.
• Content that can be photographed: the neighbourhoods growing fastest are the ones that produce good photos. Think about what a visitor will post, not only what they will buy.
• Measure after the holiday: compare bookings, footfall or orders for 1 to 7 October 2026 against an ordinary week, so the next campaign has your own baseline instead of a platform's average.

What this means for Thai marketers

Grab's data points to Chinese spending that is spreading out, toward small neighbourhoods, secondary cities, shrines and specific dishes, and that is planned on a Chinese social platform before the trip. For hospitality, F&B and retail businesses, the work is less about large campaigns and more about being findable at district level in the visitor's language: social content that Xiaohongshu users will save, and local SEO and map listings that get a ride-hailing passenger to the right door. Those two jobs connect, because the note that inspires the trip and the listing that completes it need to describe the same place in the same words.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Chinese tourist rides on Grab grow in 2026?

Grab Thailand said ride bookings by Chinese tourists grew more than 75% year on year, comparing 1 January to 15 September 2026 with the same period of 2025. Grab did not give absolute ride numbers.

Which Bangkok areas grew fastest for Chinese visitors?

Khlong Bang Luang grew fastest, with rides up more than twelvefold, followed by Song Wat at tenfold. Pak Khlong Talat nearly doubled after the lotus-garland hairstyle trend, and Banthat Thong rose threefold.

Where do the 13 million Xiaohongshu searches come from?

Grab attributes the figure to Xiaohongshu: Thailand travel-related keywords generated more than 13 million searches among users in China this year. The release gives no further detail on how the searches were counted.

What does the 90% Golden Week figure mean?

It describes past demand, not a forecast. Grab said ride-hailing demand during Golden Week typically rises by almost 90% compared with regular periods, based on its ride bookings from 1 to 7 October 2025.

Which secondary cities are Chinese tourists choosing?

Chiang Rai is the most popular secondary city, drawn by Wat Rong Khun and Wat Rong Suea Ten, while Lamphun is the rising one, with Grab rides up more than fourfold.

Turning Chinese travel demand into bookings

Grab's figures describe where Chinese independent travellers went in 2026 and how they decided to go there. Businesses that want a share of that demand need content on the platforms where trips are planned and listings that hold up when the visitor arrives. Relevant Audience plans and runs social ads and content campaigns for Thai brands targeting both local and international audiences. If you want to review how visible your business is to Chinese visitors before the next holiday peak, get in touch.