China sees Labour Day tourism surge, paving way for sector’s full-spectrum recovery

Name: Bridge in China swamped with tourists during Lunar New Year holiday
Uploaded: 2024-05-06T12:00:17.000Z
Duration: 1 min 13 s
Description: Bridge in China swamped with tourists during Lunar New Year holiday

China recorded high tourism figures during the Labour Day holiday, beating pre-pandemic levels and contributing major growth to consumption

Spike in aggregate figures not matched by increase in average spending, suggesting a change in priorities for travellers as country shores up recovery

3-MIN READ3-MIN

China experienced a travel boom during the Labour Day holiday, with the industry shaping up for a full recovery. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

Mia Nurmamat

Published: 8:00pm, 6 May 2024Updated: 12:56am, 7 May 2024

China’s tourism sector posted robust growth over the Labour Day holiday – making a strong contribution to the country’s efforts to keep up economic momentum – though a similar spike was not observed for average spending, a phenomenon analysts attributed to changes of consumption patterns among the middle class.

Over the five-day period – a break that ended on Sunday and is also known as May Day – China recorded 295 million domestic trips nationwide, up 7.6 per cent year on year from 2023 and 28.2 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels in 2019, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Monday.

Tourism revenue totalled 166.89 billion yuan (US$23.1 billion), up 12.7 per cent from the previous year and 13.5 per cent from 2019. The ministry made its calculations by accounting for the holiday’s shorter length in pre-pandemic years.

“It was unsurprising to see strong numbers again in the May Day holidays after earlier data from the Lunar New Year holiday also showed tourism numbers beating pre-pandemic levels,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING.

01:13

Bridge in China swamped with tourists during Lunar New Year holiday

However, tourists spent an average of 565 yuan (US$78) this year – up 4 per cent year-on-year, but below the 603 yuan average reported for 2019.