About 600 million domestic trips expected during China’s Golden Week holiday
China’s Golden Week holiday has kicked off with about 600 million domestic trips expected over the next week.
That is the number predicted by OTA Trip.com, although it is about 30% down compared to last year.
The week-long National Day holiday in 2019 saw a total of 782 million domestic trips, according to data from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
To revive the industry, more than 1,500 tourist attractions have launched discounts or free ticket deals and deep discounts, including all-you-can-fly deals, have been offered by many airlines in the weeks leading up to the holidays.
Passenger traffic is at about 75% of normal pre-pandemic levels for the time of year, according to August data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has restricted tourist sites and attractions to no more than 75% of normal capacity.
Tourism officials also said about 30,000 travel agencies across China have resumed operations while 90% of hotels have reopened.
"We have seen strong demand from our customers because after being locked down in the first quarter and with the border remaining closed, a lot of outbound demand have converted to domestic demand," Jane Sun, Trip.com CEO said last week.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
BA suspending all Heathrow to Abu Dhabi flights
Unexpected wave rocks cruise ship
Woman dies after going overboard in English Channel
Report: Cruise guest died after ship lashed in heavy storm
British teen in serious condition after paraglider collision