Labour Day tourism spike in China sees more people travelling than pre-pandemic levels
- Despite the positive news, experts say the industry is far from recovered from the damage caused by the coronavirus
- Purchases of car rentals in China have skyrocketed, implying people are still concerned about catching the virus
Trip.com, China’s biggest online service agency, predicts that the country will see a significant boost in the number of people on the road during the May 1-5 holiday, even compared to pre-pandemic years.
Compared to 2019, when the world was unaware of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, bookings for air tickets rose by 23 per cent, hotel reservations increased by 43 per cent, tour bookings jumped by 114 per cent and car rentals saw a 126 per cent increase, according to Trip.com data.
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Zhuang Zhimin, a tourism researcher from East China Normal University in Shanghai, told the Post that travel is viewed as a reward for a year of sometimes stringent coronavirus restrictions.
“As China’s coronavirus epidemic is not serious at all, people think their wish of travelling should be granted,” he said.
He added that the high growth rate for car rentals suggested people still had concerns about Covid-19.
“More and more people would like to drive themselves, instead of taking public transportation to travel, because they are worried about contracting the coronavirus,” Zhuang said.
Kong Linna, a Shanghai mother, said she planned to take her 10-year-old daughter to join a parent-child travel group to play on the Shengsi Archipelago in the East China Sea during the Labour Day holiday.