China’s Tourism in May Day Holidays Set to Rebound to Pre-pandemic Level

BEIJING, April 21 (TMTPOST) — The number of domestic flights completed last week soared to 102,550, exceeding that of the same period in 2019. China Civil Aviation Report (April 10-April 16, 2023) released by VariFlight shows that the demand surged after the Spring Festival, and the passenger capacity and total passenger volume were on the rise. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport were the top three in terms of passenger traffic.

The domestic travel and tourism market have showed a sign of a big boom ahead of the May Day holiday. Recently, Zibo, a city in the eastern province of Shandong, has attracted millions of travelers for its delicious barbecues. To avoid the travel rush, tourists took leave in advance only to find the packed attractions, more expensive hotels and the need to line for photos. According to online travel services provider Qunar, as of April 12, booking for plane tickets with popular domestic cities in the May Day holiday as destinations exceeded the number for the holiday in 2019 and booking for hotels of the same destinations increased four times compared with the pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Train tickets for the May Day holiday started to be up for grabs (started to sale ) on April 16, sending travellers and tourists scrambling for them. Buying train tickets during this holiday is as difficult as during the busy Spring Festival season. Some people planned to get to their destinations via a third place, while others shelled out a lot of money to buy a ticket from the starting station to the end in order to get to a place in the middle.

Image source: China Visual

Before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019, the number of domestic flights completed fluctuated seasonally but was generally stable. However, it changed dramatically after 2019. In 2020, the number dropped to a record low of less than 20,000.

In 2021, it plummeted after the May Day holiday, as a result of the stricter domestic travel restrictions. In 2022, with the resurgence of the pandemic and the early end of the summer holiday, the number dropped again.

After the Chinese New Year in 2023, the flights kept approaching the level of the same period in 2019, reflecting the rebound of consumption. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the GDP of the accommodation and the catering industry in the first quarter was 451.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%.

The volume of civil aviation flights last week exceeded that of the same period in 2019. The increase was attributed to residents’ strong willingness to travel after the pandemic, more flexible itineraries as a result of the more dense high-speed railroad network and a surge in demand for business and meetings amid the accelerated economic recovery.

The recovery of tourism and the travel industry is driving the service industry employment demand. According to Liepin Big Data, in the first quarter of this year, new job openings in civil aviation, railway, highway and waterway passenger transportation jumped by 12.02% year-on-year while the openings in tourism inched up by 0.92%.

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