BEIJING: China’s tourism sector has seen a strong recovery so far this year and is expected to continue its current momentum as China continues to lift travel restrictions amid a stable Covid-19 situation.

According to the China Tourism Academy, the tourism sector saw encouraging statistics during the Spring Festival holiday in mid-February.

Domestic tourism revenue saw year-over-year growth from the third day of the weeklong vacation, while the number of tourists traveling to and from major tourist destinations such as Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing matched the level of the 2019 Spring Festival.

The demand for leisure trips to the city, vacations in the suburbs, family outings and study trips showed a strong upward trend, according to the academy.

The country’s civil aviation industry handled around 23.95 million passenger trips in February, up 187.1% year over year, the latest data from China’s Civil Aviation Authority showed.

Air traffic picked up speed shortly after the vacation. During this time, many Chinese people chose to abide by the government’s call to avoid unnecessary gatherings.

Passenger traffic on domestic routes has returned to the level of the same period of 2019, according to the online travel service provider qunar.com.

Increasing hotel bookings also indicated people’s willingness to travel. Sanya, Wuxi and Lhasa are among the favorite domestic destinations for tourists.

By March 9, hotel bookings for Tomb-Sweeping Day at the beginning of April had risen to 4.5 times the number of bookings made on the same day a year earlier.

The number of hotel reservations on May 1, the first day of the five-day May holiday, has exceeded the number on the same day in 2019, the data showed.

Beijing has eased Covid-19 restrictions as no new locally transmitted cases have occurred in the Chinese capital in over a month.

Individuals traveling domestically and arriving in Beijing from low risk areas will not be required to present negative nucleic acid test results, and taxi and online hail services between Beijing and other cities will resume.

Temperature checks are also not required at the entrances to the community and the village, while indoor and outdoor cultural and entertainment venues such as parks, picturesque locations, libraries, museums and theaters are allowed to accommodate up to 75% of their visitor capacity.

The data showed that plane and train tickets to and from Beijing had skyrocketed immediately after the city government’s announcement. Industry insiders said people are using the upcoming holidays to make up for the trips they had previously missed.

The cost of travel, accommodation, and tickets to cultural and entertainment venues have come down significantly since the Covid-19 outbreak, and some local governments may continue to offer travel vouchers to attract tourists so people can have extremely affordable vacations this year. said Ma Yiliang, an analyst at the China Tourism Academy.

An estimated 4.1 billion domestic tourist trips will be made in China this year, up 42% from 2020, according to a report from the academy.

Domestic tourism revenue is expected to grow 48% to 3.3 trillion yuan ($ 507.47 billion or RM 2.9 trillion), according to the report. ─ Xinhua

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