China's Travel Industry Set to Boom for May Day Holiday as Bookings Reach Pre-Pandemic Levels

(MENAFN) China's travel industry is showing signs of recovery as bookings for the upcoming May Day holiday have reached pre-pandemic levels, according to data from popular booking apps. Online travel booking portal Trip.com Group reported that by April 6, orders of domestic travel for the holiday had already hit pre-COVID levels and were seven times higher than last year. Similarly, travel and restaurant booking app Meituan revealed that its bookings for the May Day holiday from April 29 to May 3 had already reached a five-year high by the start of this week. The five-day May holiday is traditionally one of China's busiest tourist seasons as spring moves into summer.

China's zero-COVID policy to stop the spread of the virus heavily impacted tourist spending and travel volumes last year. Domestic trips made during the holiday in 2021 reached a record high of 230 million, but the number dropped 43 percent to 160 million last year. However, Fang Zeqian, an industry analyst at Trip.com, said that the backlog of consumer travel demand since February is expected to be released during the May Day holiday, benefiting major domestic tourist cities and vacation destinations.

The app data provides a bright spot for the consumer industry, which is still struggling to recover as people tighten their budgets due to worries over the slowing economy and employment. Jin Hui, CEO of Chinese hotel chains operator H World Group, which operates more than 8,500 hotels, said that COVID-19 had brought significant changes to people's shopping habits. He noted that in the past, people would buy clothes and bags when they had money, but now more people are willing to spend on experiences, holidays, and leisure time. Jin added that the pandemic made people learn that they should enjoy life instead of living in uncertainties.

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