China sees travel boom during May Day holiday

China's tourism sector has experienced a boom during the five-day May Day holiday that ends on Wednesday, said an industrial report.

The ticket sales of domestic scenic spots skyrocketed by 900 percent from the previous May Day holiday and doubled compared with the same holiday in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the report released by online travel agency Trip.com Group on Wednesday.

Vehicles cross the Sutong Yangtze River Highway Bridge in Nantong, Jiangsu province, on Wednesday, the last day of the May Day holiday.

Meanwhile, outbound travel orders increased nearly 700 percent from the same period of last year, with the number of outbound air tickets and hotel orders surging by nearly 900 percent and 450 percent, respectively, the report said.

The average travel radius of Trip.com users during the holiday jumped by 25 percent compared to the same period of last year, and the average travel distance by plane reached 1,638 km, representing a four-year high and basically recovering to the level of 2019, it said.

According to the report, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Guangzhou were the top five popular destinations during this year's May Day holiday.

This aerial photo taken on April 30, 2023 shows tourists visiting the Longquan Mountain scenic spot in Danzhai County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. China is witnessing a travel boom during this year's five-day May Day holiday. (Photo by Jiang Keqing/Xinhua)