Travel-thirsty public likely to bring boom to China's tourism industry since spring

China's tourism industry is expected to see a boom in travel since the current spring season, with the epidemic situation well under control and public enthusiasm for travel getting high.

Ticket prices have plunged on

Chinese airlines with an off season beginning after the Lunar New Year holiday on February 11-17.

March air tickets on some popular routes are sold at an astonishing 90 percent discount, with some tickets sold at prices less than half of those of high-speed trains. For example, the single trip from Xi’an City in the northwestern Province of Shaanxi to Hangzhou, a popular tourist city in the eastern province of Zhejiang, costs merely around 260 yuan, compared with the 758-yuan railway ticket.

March is the traditional off-season for tourism, and the number of tourists decreased significantly compared with previous years as people actively responded to government’s advice to refrain from traveling during the Spring Festival holiday for epidemic concerns, according to Li Xiaojie, a staff member with Trip.com Group, a famous travel company based in Shanghai.

However, Li said that with the coronavirus well under control in China, the country's public transportation networks are likely to see large numbers of tourists eager to get on trips during the upcoming holidays for China's Tomb-Sweeping Day and the May Day, which fall on April 5 and May 1, respectively.

"As spring comes, traditional scenic spots such as Sanya City [in the south China island province of Hainan] and Yunnan Province, can be popular destinations for travel. The prices of the flight tickets could go up steadily from mid-March through the beginning of April," Li said.