China"s tourism sector is set to roar back for the upcoming May Day holidays in more than three years, which has been proved by an upsurge in bookings, with more than 240 million trips estimated by industry insiders.

Consumption is set to further rebound amid the travel boom and estimated to contribute more than 120 billion yuan ($17.35 billion) in consumption.

(资料图片仅供参考)

This May Day holidays mark the first long holiday in China after the Chinese New Year following its optimization in COVID-19 response.

Tourism boom “off the scale”

The May Day holidays this year will fall on Saturday, lasting till May 3. China"s railway systems will manage 120 million passenger trips from Thursday to May 4, an increase of 20 percent from 2019 and the highest level in history, data from China Railway showed on Thursday.

The China Railway said on Saturday that they planned to add over 1,500 trains during April 27 to May 4 and the national daily operation number will reach about 10,500 during the holidays.

Some 69.08 million train tickets have already been sold as of 8 am on Thursday.

According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), flight ticket booking volume during the May Day holidays has already crossed 6 million. CAAC predicted that China"s aviation sector will transport about 9 million passengers nationwide during the holidays.

For the domestic market, multiple airline companies will operate a combined 65,000 flights equal to about 12 million seats, which surpassed the transport capacity supply in the same period in 2019. During the holiday, the number of domestic daily flights operated is expected to reach 13,000, up 10 percent over 2019 levels. Prices of domestic flight tickets will be 30 percent more expensive than 2019, according to VariFlight.

On Chinese online travel service Trip.com, the search for domestic flights for the May Day holidays has surged more than 290 percent year-on-year and recovered 110 percent compared with 2019, while the search for accommodation exceeded over nine times compared with a year ago and jumped nearly 200 percent with 2019 as of April 20.

As for the outbound travel, the first travel peak in more than three years during the upcoming holidays is expected. Search for outbound flights on Trip.com jumped to 120 percent of the level during the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, while searches for overseas hotels recovered to 70 percent.

For those who prefer a road trip, the Ministry of Transport has cautioned that traffic on China"s expressway network will hit a record on Saturday as travelers set off on the first day of the five-day holiday.

During the holiday, it is estimated that the average daily traffic flow on China"s highways will reach from 53.3 million to 54.3 million vehicle trips, a year-on-year increase of 73 to 77 percent.

Domestic tour orders are on track to match the 2019 level.

Data from Trip.com shows that as of April 16, domestic tour bookings for the holiday have increased by over 12 times year-on-year, reaching the same level as in 2019 and outbound tour bookings up by over 18 times from a year earlier.

Booking sites for popular scenic spots, such as Beijing"s Summer Palace and the Badaling section of the Great Wall showed they were sold out of tickets for the first few days of the holiday.

As of April 10, comprehensive bookings for domestic accommodations, transportation, and scenic spot tickets for the holiday have increased by about 200 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to data from Meituan and Dazhong Dianping, a Chinese version of Yelp.

Chinese online travel agency Tuniu.com said that roughly 40 percent of its users have booked long-distance trips for the five-day holiday and 25 percent selected trips lasting more than five days.

According to Tuniu, among the popular domestic destinations, Sanya, Dali, Lijiang, Chengdu, Xi"an, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture, and Qingdao rank among the top.

Demand on Minsu, or homestay, also speeds up with the upcoming holiday. As of April 17, bookings of Minsu (a Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast establishment) surged twofold compared with same period of 2019, with average room price reaching 534 yuan ($77.64), according to data from online Minsu booking platform Tujia.

The signature representation is Zibo in Shandong, a city that has recently garnered attention for its barbecue, and the bookings surged by 441 percent on Trip.com compared with the same period in 2019.

On the other hand, short- or medium-distance family trips and leisure trips to rural areas and more niche destinations will be the major traveling pattern for the holiday.

The order scale for rural tours on Trip.com for the upcoming holidays has recovered to 137 percent of the same period in 2019, while bookings for accommodation in rural areas on tujia.com accounted for nearly 40 percent of the platform"s total orders, data from the companies showed.

Chinese market consultancy iiMedia Research Institute said that the travel pattern will further elevate the consumption for matching products covering sectors from catering, accommodations to souvenirs, stressing the holiday as a crucial climax for the consumption boom in the first half of 2023 while paving the way for further recovery.

Outbound travel in recovery

In March, China resumed outbound group tours to 40 more selected countries after resuming overseas group tours to 20 countries in February.

In the latest move, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that China will no longer require a negative PCR test result for travelers entering the country.

Within one hour after the announcement, searches for cross-border flights on online travel platform Fliggy surged by 400 percent.

Airlines are speeding up the resumption of international and regional routes. Data shows that the number of cross-border flights in January has recovered to 10 percent of the same period in 2019, and to 15 percent in February.

The May Day holiday will usher in the first peak of growth for outbound tourism this year, further driving the recovery of airlines and local service capabilities, said Sun Jie, CEO of Trip.com Group.

Figures from Trip.com show that during the first 10 days of this month, the bookings for overseas travel increased eighteenfold year-on-year, and searches for flight tickets for the upcoming holiday rose ninefold on the platform compared with the previous year.

With the holiday fast approaching, more and more Chinese consumers are expected to embark on outbound journeys, with Southeast Asia, New Zealand and the Maldives remaining the top destinations.

In addition, with the recovery of international air capacity, bookings to the Middle East and Africa, such as the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and South Africa, as well as in European directions such as Russia, Switzerland, France and Italy, have also seen rapid growth.

Also, Hong Kong is gearing up for a massive influx of visitors during the upcoming holiday, with about 4.61 million people expected to enter or leave the city during the Chinese mainland"s first long break since the resumption of cross-boundary travel.

The busiest day for outbound travelers will be Saturday, with 359,000 people expected to leave the city while the largest crowd of incoming visitors — 422,000 people — may come on Monday, according to the Immigration Department. Hong Kong hotel room rates have surged by as much as five times in the run-up to “golden week” holiday.

However, outbound tourism is just at the early stage of the recovery due to factors such as limited flight capacity and visa issues, industry analysts say.

On Sunday, the number of international passenger flights connecting China and overseas destinations reached nearly 1,000, representing just 30 percent of levels seen in the same period of 2019, said TravelSky Holding Co Ltd, a Beijing-based State-owned travel information provider.

But that has not stopped tourism authorities of many countries coming to China for the first time in three years to stage events to attract Chinese tourists.

In recent weeks, tourism authorities from countries such as Nepal and Malaysia came to China and traveled around the country to promote their tourist attractions. Some, including the tourism authorities of Canada"s Ontario province, chose to tie up with Chinese firms to carry out promotional activities.

Meanwhile, as part of the Hong Kong SAR government"s "Hello Hong Kong" initiative, over 500,000 free round-trip airline tickets are available for grabs for global travelers. These gratis air tickets are sponsored by Hong Kong International Airport and exclude taxes and surcharges, and the hope is they will attract more visitors to the city.

Consumption in full gear

The tourism sector already started warming up long before the holidays, and the government"s support for stimulating consumption and backing the real economy contribute to the rapid rebound of the sector.

In addition to the central government, local governments nationwide have been implementing measures tackling consumption recovery, which has helped to restore the market confidence on top of the nation"s beyond-expectation economic performance in the first quarter.

For instance, multiple cities and provinces in China have been issuing consumption vouchers. East China"s Shandong Province released 528 million yuan worth of coupons, boosting consumption to 10.2 billion yuan, according to media reports.

Amid the huge consumption potential, various shopping festivals and events will be arranged for the holidays. China"s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) along with the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies will organize an online shopping festival from Friday to May 12, focusing on promoting products from Central Asia and ASEAN members.

The commerce ministry said on Thursday that shopping events organized locally will inject more vitality during the holiday.

And if you were not a fan of travel or shopping, you can always rely on a good movie-going trip.

Nearly 20 films have been announced for the May Day holiday period.This is the highest number of films to hit cinemas at once in recent years. Genres of the holiday films run the gamut from action and crime to comedy and suspense films.

The latest hit Japanese animated sports film “The First Slam Dunk”, a "nostalgia trigger" as netizens put it, has earned big at the Chinese mainland box office, bringing in more than 390 million yuan ($56.5 million) in its first five days, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan.According to IMAX China, during its opening weekend, “The First Slam Dunk” grossed a stunning 38 million yuan at the IMAX box office.

Among the many films such as crime film “The Procurator” and star-studded film “Flashover”, action film “Born to Fly” is the most "highly anticipated" movie.As of Thursday, “Born to Fly”, featuring a stellar cast, has raked in over 100 million yuan ($14.5 million) from online ticket booking revenues, according to the box office live tracker Beacon.

Big-budgeted “Chinese Youth: Me and My Youth” consists of three stand-alone stories that recount the struggles of young people in different eras. And the only comedy that will take part in the May Day holiday movie season, “Godspeed” tells a story about a road trip by a -daughter, her boyfriend and her parents.

2023年“五一”作为疫情完全结束后的第一个小长假，火热态势早已挡不住。

目前，携程、飞猪、去哪儿等平台数据均显示，国内机票、酒店、景区门票等产品的订单量都超过了2019年同期水平。预期的国内日均航班量和日均旅客运输量也已超过2019年同期水平。

携程近日预测，今年“五一”假期旅游人次有望突破2019年同期水平，达到2亿人次，创五年来新高，其中，内地出境游产品整体预订量增幅最醒目，同比增长超18倍。相较于前三年的就近活动，今年国内长线旅游订单有着惊人的增长。此外，高端旅游消费力依然坚挺，自驾游成为年轻人首选。机票、火车票价格的上涨，导致选择性价比更高的自驾游出行的人们越来越多，租车行业火热。

“五一”旅游再现“人从众”

飞猪近日发布的《2023年“五一”出游风向标》显示，截至目前，国内机票、酒店、景区门票、跟团游等均已超过2019年同期，累计预订量同比去年劲增超10倍，中长线游订单占比高达9成以上。长线旅游成为今年“五一”假期游客首选。

中长线旅行的火爆，带动铁路、民航等交通全面复苏，客运量或超过2019年。中国民航局4月21日对外披露，从机票预订数据看，今年“五一”假期订票已超600万人次，旅客出行需求提前释放，市场热度基本恢复至2019年同期水平。预计“五一”假期民航将运输旅客约900万人次。航旅纵横数据显示，“五一”假期国内计划客运航班量约6.9万班，较去年同期实际执行客运航班量增长超3倍。国内民航旅客量预计比去年同期实际旅客量增长近3.6倍。截至4月23日，“五一”假期国内航司的出入境机票预订量超35万，环比上周增长近28%。

铁路的情况类似。很多网友反映“五一”假期前一日火车票多条线路已售罄。在去哪儿平台上，截至4月14日16时，北京-长沙、北京-武汉、上海-广州等多条热门线路已售罄，近期开通的多城市直达香港高铁线路，仅有少量余票。

其实国铁集团今年“五一”的运力安排已与2019年持平。据国铁集团客运部负责人介绍，截至4月22日14时，铁路部门已经售出“五一”运输期间火车票4657万张，北京至上海、成都至西安、广州至南宁等多条线路车票紧俏。为了满足出行需求，国铁集团将在4月27日至5月4日假日期间安排日均开行旅客列车10500列，增开1500多列，其中包括夜间高铁102列。国铁集团客运部负责人还透露，考虑到长线旅游火爆，铁路部门也会增加长途运力投放，增开跨铁路局长途旅客列车156列。而热门旅游城市方向的短途列车也会增开，上海局、成都局和济南局三个地方铁路将会增开396列旅客列车，其中包括济南到淄博每日82列动车组。

此外，自驾游也很火，携程租车订单量同比增长超八成。福州、兰州、大连、威海、南昌、伊宁、黄山、汕头等地租车订单增速排名靠前，成为今年“五一”自驾新晋目的地，这些地区的租车订单较2021年“五一”均增长超200%。受到今年“五一”长线异地出游趋势影响，今年携程平台租车单均价较去年翻倍，游客用车时长和用车出行距离都进一步增长。

近期在社交媒体上爆火的“特种兵旅游”仍将影响旅游市场，过半数游客在“五一”假期预订两个或两个以上目的地城市的旅游和出行产品。三亚、大理等老牌旅游城市发挥稳定，依旧是众多游客的首选目的地，淄博等新兴旅游城市表现优异，或将迎史上最火假期。

随着出行人数暴涨，多地酒店出现了“一房难求”的现象。同程旅行发布的“五一”假期旅行消费预测数据显示，大理古城、凤凰古城、黄山等热门景点周边，均有不少酒店出现满房情况。演唱会、音乐节等演艺活动所在地周边的酒店预订量同比暴增超20倍。

在住宿的选择上，青旅旅社、经济型酒店、民宿等住宿类型最受出游人群的关注，其中，受年轻人喜爱的青旅旅社居于榜单首位，搜索量周环比增长超230%。

高品质、重舒适的旅游成为部分出行游客的选择。据飞猪数据显示，高星酒店预订量同比去年增长超14倍。

亲子游也备受关注。同程旅行平台上，“五一”假期相关的亲子游搜索热度环比上涨97%，上海迪士尼度假区、北京环球度假区、广州动物园、珠海长隆海洋王国、广州长隆野生动物世界是目前“五一”假期搜索热度最高的亲子游景区。

出境游复苏进行时

今年“五一”假期最大的看点是出境旅游。数据显示，内地出境游预订同比增长超18倍，境外跟团游报名量较4月初增长157%；携程机票数据显示，“五一”假期出境机票搜索量同比去年增长超9倍。而与2019年同期相比，出境游机票搜索量恢复至120%，出境游酒店搜索热度同比2019年恢复至约70%。

从机票数据来看，出境客源地主要来自北上广深一线城市及部分省会城市。尤其是上海，贡献了30%的出境订单。此外，苏州、无锡也上榜出境游前10客源地。

至于出境游目的地分布上，66%的飞行意向集中在东南亚、日韩、港澳台亚太地区。同比2019年，东南亚增幅在50%以上，其他亚洲以及近来合作更加紧密的中东地区增幅超过100%。据悉，今年“五一”假期出境热门目的地top10为中国香港、中国澳门、首尔、新加坡、曼谷、中国台北、普吉岛、大阪、东京、悉尼。

民航局有关司局负责人透露，国内方面，预计国内客运航班将达到6.5万班，可提供1200余万个座位，运力供给超过2019年同期。“五一”期间中外航空公司预计执行3500班国际客运航班，恢复至2019年同期的30%。而此前中国民航局运输司副司长徐青介绍称，截至4月中旬国际航班量恢复至疫情前的29.4％，通航59个国家，恢复至疫情前的82％。

飞友科技数据显示，“五一”机票价格超2019年同期水平。国内航线日均单程机票价格（含税）约1095元，而2019年“五一”期间约为788元，平均涨幅为39%，国际/地区航线日均单程机票价格（含税）约1910元，保持相对较高水平。

愈加火爆的出入境旅游市场，刺激各国旅游局、境外目的地加快在华营销步伐。4月18日，加拿大安大略省旅游局官宣与马蜂窝合作，在中国探索用新方式进行“目的地营销”。而马来西亚旅游、艺术和文化部与马来西亚旅游局则刚刚于4月15日结束为期半个月的中国营销路演活动。营销活动遍及北京、重庆、广州、上海、厦门多地。为了显示马来西亚旅游的招徕意愿，亚航也在近期推出了机票促销活动。此外，近期启动2023大中华区路演活动的还有斐济旅游局，为期6天的路演活动分别在北京、上海、成都和青城山四地拉开序幕。

消费热潮涌动

随着“五一”假期临近，各地消费热潮涌动。4月29日，上海第四届“五五购物节”与商务部“国际消费季”将共同启动，发力“新客群”“新供给”“新场景”；4月26日晚，“粤港澳大湾区消费季暨第三届直播电商节”在广州市正式开启；“五一”小长假期间，山西省文旅厅推出2023年山西省文化和旅游消费季惠民政策；北京、山东等地也纷纷“出招”，推动消费持续向好。

各地发放消费券的热潮仍在持续。深圳将于4月28日至5月12日开展第五届双品网购节（深圳）活动，其中就包括6000万京东到家消费券。与此同时，大鹏新区“五一”假期派送数字人民币百万消费红包，到大鹏新区辖区内活动商户进行消费券并使用数字人民币付款，即享受红包满减优惠。

2023中国（重庆）国际消费节将于4月28日-5月31日举办，开启重庆5月国际消费热潮。活动期间，两江新区、渝中、璧山等将发放政府消费券共计约1300万元，京东、支付宝等平台发放约3000万元消费券，各商业综合体、特色消费场景发放约5500万元福利优惠等。

而在香港，“开心香港”一系列活动将于29日展开。香港特区行政长官李家超表示，希望透过“开心香港”多姿多彩的活动，加上本月开始发放新一轮消费券，让市民开开心心消费并提振香港经济。

同时，地方政府纷纷发布政策措施促消费。例如，近日公布的《广州市促进消费提档升级若干措施》提出，广州今年将继续研究发放政府消费券，支持零售、住宿、餐饮、旅游、体育消费，各区将根据实际配套组织发放消费券。

消费券备受青睐，是因为其具有乘数效应，投放的消费券可以产生数倍的直接消费。公开信息显示，今年以来山东省共发放各类消费券5.28亿元，其中，餐饮、汽车、家电分别发放2.7亿元、2.08亿元和0.5亿元，合计拉动消费102亿元左右，有力带动消费全面向好。

对于“五一”期间及未来的促消费活动，在4月27日商务部召开的例行新闻发布会上，商务部新闻发言人束珏婷表示，二季度，商务部将组织开展绿色消费季、国际消费季等主题活动，举办双品网购节等专题活动，推出“美丽乡村 休闲生活”“品牌消费 品质消费”等13个消费场景。各地也将因地制宜举办系列活动，推动消费市场稳步恢复。她表示，这些活动均持续至“五一”后，相信将为“五一”消费市场增添更多活力。

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC

编委: 于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮

音频制作：李莹亮

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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