China’s red-hot tourism sector surpassed expectations over the May Day holiday – a five-day break from April 29 till May 3, with enthusiastic travelers overwhelming some lesser-known destinations and crowding old favorites. The fulfillment of people’s long-suppressed desire to travel, earlier stymied due to Covid-19 outbreaks, has injected new impetus into the rapid revival of the nation’s economy. A total of 274 million visits were made during the holiday, up 70.83% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The figure is an increase of more than 19% over the same period in 2019. This year’s visits generated revenue of around CNY148 billion, up 128.9% year-on-year, the Ministry said.
Previously little-known destinations were star attractions during the holiday. The Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province saw hotel bookings surge 22-fold compared with last year. The Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture in Jilin province had 90% of all hotel rooms booked three days before the holiday started, according to the travel portal Qunar, while Zibo in Shandong province saw its hotel bookings increase 20-fold year-on-year. The city’s popularity boomed after its barbecuing style, which uses griddle pancakes to wrap grilled meat similar to the way Peking duck is eaten, went viral. Other lesser-known destinations, including Lianyungang and Xuzhou in Jiangsu province, Shangrao in Jiangxi province, and Yantai and Weihai in Shandong province, also saw travel bookings increase on average 20-fold year-on-year, said travel portal Fliggy.
Rural areas with beautiful mountain and lake views also experienced a boom during the holiday. Online travel agency Lvmama said bookings on its platform for short-distance trips to countryside destinations increased by 150%, compared with the same period in 2019. Wu Ruoshan, Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Tourism Research Center, said the May Day holiday has seen surging demand for travel, and the tourism market has performed well thanks to a wealth of tourism products and the emergence of more attractive destinations. Zou Qingling, CEO of Lvmama, said the domestic tourism market will have more opportunities this year. Second- and third-tier cities with lower prices, beautiful scenery, entertainment events and rich cuisines have a high possibility of going viral and becoming popular locations.
Overseas destinations were also popular choices for travelers wanting to avoid crowds. According to the online travel agency Tuniu, Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand and the Maldives were the most-favored overseas destinations during the holiday, the China Daily reports.
China’s transport network is expected to have handled 270 million passenger trips during the holiday, the Ministry of Transport said. A daily average of more than 54 million trips were expected to have been made by railway, road, waterway and civil aviation, an increase of more than two and a half times over the same period last year, which was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. On May 3, transport service providers increased capacity to manage the peak return of travelers, as traffic was expected to hit a record during the holiday. The national railway operator, China State Railway Group, planned to operate 11,993 passenger trains, an increase of 1,630 services on the last day of the holiday. It is expected to handle 19.3 million passenger trips, the company said. Beijing extended operation time for subways and added more buses at railway stations, the city’s Transport Commission said.
The holiday was the second long break since China downgraded its prevention and control measures for Covid-19, following the Spring Festival, which fell at the end of January. The transport sector experienced a travel boom during the holiday, and on April 29 a single day record of 19.6 million rail passenger trips were made, the China Daily reports.
