Chinese tourists are back

Travel and tourism roared back to life during China’s May Day holiday, in a sign that the country is returning to normal after three years of isolation under Beijing’s pandemic restrictions.

Also known as the Labor Day holiday period, which took place from April 29 to May 3, the five-day break is one of three major annual holidays in China. The closely-watched tourism boom is likely to boost China’s economy, which grew by 4.5% in the first quarter as it struggles to recover after Beijing abruptly rolled back its strict COVID-zero policies late last year.

Chinese people flocking to planes and trains

Chinese travelers took to planes and trains to satisfy their wanderlust both in and out of the country.

Within China, domestic tourist trips hit 274 million, an increase of 71% from the same period last year, and 19% higher than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic hit, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported on Wednesday. Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou were the top five popular destinations during this year’s May Day holiday, according to a report released on Wednesday by online travel agency Trip.com.

Passenger traffic on China’s railways hit 53.5 million, with national operator China Railway Group earlier predicting the figure to hit a record 120 million between April 27 to May 4. In Shanghai, railway stations received a record-breaking number of 650,000 passengers on the first day of the holiday alone, while the in-city traffic networks recorded over 27 million passengers in the first three days, a 4.3% increase from 2021.

International travel also rebounded. Outbound travel increased nearly 700% from the same period of last year, according to the Trip.com report. The number of outbound air tickets surged by nearly 900%, while hotel bookings grew by 450%, the report said.

Popular overseas destinations were close to home: Nearly 70% of the flight destinations were in Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Nearly a third of the people traveling abroad flew out of Shanghai. The city logged 2.4 million outbound travelers and over 1.79 million inbound travelers from April 29 to May 1, an increase of 7.23% and 0.02% respectively compared to 2021, according to local transport authorities.

The rebound in international travel was also significant compared to a few months earlier. Outbound trips during the May Day holiday increased by 200% compared to this year’s Spring Festival in January, according to data from Alibaba-owned travel booking site Fliggy cited by state media. (From April 29, the first day of the holiday period, international travelers entering China will only need to take an antigen self-test instead of a PCR-test.)

The return of the crowds

Domestic tourism revenue reached 148.05 billion yuan ($21.4 billion) during the five-day period, more than double the amount recorded last year and a rise of 0.7% from the same period in 2019, according to China’s tourism ministry.

At domestic scenic spots, ticket sales soared by 900% from the previous May Day holiday period, double the amount compared with the same holiday in 2019, according to the Trip.com report.

Shanghai saw over 7 million tourist arrivals for the weekend, and Beijing received nearly 2 million tourists on the first day of the holiday, double the number from last year. Meanwhile, tickets to Shanghai Disneyland sold out, as did those to the Badaling Great Wall and Universal Park in Beijing.

Chinese cities rolled out a number of measures to manage the surge in tourists. Residents in Changsha, the capital of central Hunan province, were asked by the local government to prepare by either staying home or traveling outside the city during the Labor Day holiday. Other cities announced that minor traffic infractions would incur only educational warnings instead of penalties in light of the crowded streets.

Some residents in Shanghai opted to go glamping close to home, rather than battling out the tourist mobs. They pitched tents and laid out camping carts filled with snacks, homemade sandwiches, and even coffee makers for a more low-key holiday.

Meanwhile, traffic at China’s major tourist attractions in the first three days of the holiday nearly doubled from last year, according to mobility data tracked by Baidu. Visitor numbers at large shopping malls were up 17.6% in the same period.

Movies weren’t the top choice for entertainment, however. While total box office tickets of new films exceeded 1.4 billion yuan ($200 million), up from last year’s COVID-struck 297 million yuan ($29.95 million), this was significantly less than the 6.76 billion yuan ($978 million) box office sales during Spring Festival in January. Some movie theaters across the country reported only a handful of people in the audience. The average price of movie tickets was also the highest in three years at 40.6 yuan ($5.87), compared to 37.8 yuan ($5.47) in 2021 and 34.2 yuan ($4.95) in 2022.