Coronavirus: ‘Sight of nature nearly brought tears to my eyes’ – after lockdown, people in Chinese cities are getting out, and booking trips again

Travel agency sees a surge in summer flight bookings, some national parks welcome back domestic visitors, and hotels woo guests with health precautions, deals

For some, the simple joy of hiking a nature trail or visiting Beijing’s Summer Palace is enough

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Visitors wear masks at the Summer Palace in Beijing on Wednesday. Park visitors must pre-book, and visitor numbers are capped at 30 per cent of the usual limit. With coronavirus lockdowns lifted, people in China are getting out again, and booking summer trips. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 12:27pm, 13 Mar 2020Updated: 4:39pm, 13 Mar 2020

After being confined at home for more than a month due to the coronavirus outbreak, Beijing resident Zhou Yu finally stepped outside her neighbourhood and hit a nature trail this week, with the spread of contagion showing signs of abatement across China.

“I’m bored to death after staying at home and making only occasional grocery trips in my neighbourhood over the past month. The sight of nature and breaths of fresh air nearly brought tears to my eyes,” says the 25-year-old administrator for an education company.

The whole of China has been in various degrees of lockdown since the end of January, when the coronavirus outbreak brought the country to a standstill, but online travel agencies say they have been seeing a significant increase in inbound domestic travellers since the last week of February.

Chai Yinghui, public relations general manager of online travel booking firm Tongcheng-Elong, says with the exception of Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, domestic hotel bookings surged by almost 90 per cent in the last week of February compared to the second week.

A man wears a protective suit as a preventive measure against the coronavirus as he accompanies a passenger leaving Beijing Capital International Airport this week. People in China have begun to travel again, but the travel industry is far from a return to normal. Photo: AFP

“The peak February daily bookings for domestic flights soared by 230 per cent from the lowest level recorded in the same month,” she says.

With new coronavirus infections falling and mostly confined to Hubei province, and a further easing of controls on movement outside the province, Chai says they are starting to see a resumption of passenger flows, showing people are going back home to resume work following the extended Spring Festival holiday.