May Day holiday unleashes tourism frenzy as Chinese tourists throw off the shackles of the Covid-19 era
- Frustrated by three years of restrictions, Chinese travellers flew further afield and in far greater numbers than at any time since 2019
- The travel bonanza will have given a welcome boost to consumption as Chinese holidaymakers tend to spend big, according to a tourism analyst
The first long national holiday since Beijing abandoned its tough pandemic restrictions saw Chinese tourists flying an average distance of 1,638km, according to travel giant Trip.com Group.
Equivalent to a trip from Shanghai in eastern China to Inner Mogolia’s Hohhot, that is by far the highest in the last three years and just 2 per cent shy of 2019, before the novel coronavirus first emerged.
The travel bonanza will have given a welcome boost to consumption, according to Peng Han, director of the strategic research centre of the Ctrip Research Institute.
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“The eagerness for a long-haul holiday among Chinese travellers has been unleashed during this year’s Labour Day holiday,” said Peng.
