Coronavirus: Chinese tourist trips during Labour Day weekend to drop by half
- Overseas holidays are out but car travel and upscale hotels and resorts in China are main choices for those who do intend to take a break
- The five-day holiday which starts on International Labour Day is the first peak travel season of the year for Chinese holidaymakers
The number of trips taken by Chinese tourists over the country’s biggest holiday periods since Wuhan lifted its lockdown is expected to drop by half.
According to a leading travel agency, only 90 million trips are expected to be taken during the five-day break, which starts on May 1 with International Labour Day, with most people planning to stay within the country and staying at luxury hotels.
This compares with the 195 million domestic trips taken during last year’s holiday.
Shanghai-based travel website Trip.com said the May break marked the first peak travel season after the Lunar new year, and estimated domestic travel could double the numbers seen in early April when more than 43 million trips were taken within China during the Ching Ming Festival.
Trip.com said that unlike in previous years, very few people would be travelling far this time, with tourists shifting their interest from interprovincial and outbound destinations to holidays closer to home. International travel has been severely disrupted by the pandemic, with overseas flights from China unavailable or priced out of reach.