Signs of recovery in tourism market
Admiring flower blossom and visiting historical and cultural attractions were favored activities by Chinese travelers for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, which is a traditional break to commemorate one’s ancestors.
The recent discovery of 500-plus cultural relics at Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan, Sichuan province — with history dating back more than 3,200 years — went viral online, making historical sites an even more popular choice among travelers.
Figures from Qunar, an online travel agency, show that searches for Sanxingdui on its platform rose 3.4 times up to March 22 compared to the same period in 2019, and its popularity may continue to rise.
Chinese people’s desire for travel has seen new highs as the weather gets warmer and the COVID-19 pandemic remains well-controlled at a domestic level.
Lan Xiang, director of Qunar’s big data research center, said that the reservation of flights for the April 3-5 holiday increased 1.3 times from that in 2019.
The demand made the average price of air tickets rebound to the level before the virus outbreak, which is around 690 yuan ($106).
Trips from Beijing to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, were the most popular flight reservation on the platform for the holiday, Qunar said, which cost around 740 yuan for a single trip.
The reservation of self-driving tours saw a remarkable increase due to travelers’ preference for a cleaner traveling environment and enhanced privacy.
Lvmama, another online travel service provider, said that till March 18, reservations for self-driving tour packages registered a rise of 43 percent compared with the previous week.
Destinations featuring breathtaking views and flower blossom are attractive to self-driving travelers. For example, Wuyuan, in eastern Jiangxi province, has stretching fields of flowers that attract millions of visitors each year.
Liu Xing, a 27-year-old from Anhui province, said that he plans to take his parents on a short-distance tour by driving a car.
“We plan to go to Suzhou (in Jiangsu province), which is around 390 kilometers from Hefei, my hometown,” he said.
“I didn’t go back home during the Spring Festival holiday, answering the government’s call to stay put. Taking them on a self-driving car tour is a good way of reunion, we can talk and enjoy views during the trip.”
The growing number of tour package reservations for the break is a major sign of recovery in the tourism market, which was hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak in 2020.
Trip.com gave figures showing that till March 16, the number of travelers reserving tickets for attractions on its platform had recovered to the level of 2019. It also predicts that the number may rise by 10 percent from that of 2019.