Chinese people have the full moon holiday in August for 3 days, from September 19, and the number of intercity tour bookings has increased nearly 4 times.
Online travel agency LY.com estimates that around 800 million Chinese will travel during the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to Trip.com, bookings for intercity tours increased by 365 percent, and private group tours increased by 550% between August 23 and September 6. This comes after domestic travel restrictions were eased due to the government's successful containment of the outbreak in the summer.
However, most tourists avoid long-distance travel. Instead, they choose tourist destinations close to home, short trips because they are still afraid of the spread of disease as well as short breaks.
China's domestic tourism tends to recover before the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. Photo: Bloomberg
Also according to Trip.com, Beijing, home to the new Universal Studios theme park, is the most popular holiday destination. In recent times, the number of ticket bookings here has increased 8 times. Airfares for routes also increased by 20% over the same period last year. The number of tourists flocking to famous tourist destinations such as Hainan and Sichuan increased by 323% and 528% respectively compared to two weeks ago.
Travel analyst Fang Zeqian said the current trend could be seen as a harbinger of a big boom around the week-long national day holiday in early October. Still, Chen Xia, manager of a local travel agency in Chongqing city, said: "Overall, China's domestic tourism market has not fully recovered. People are still hesitant. about traveling".
