Hundreds of millions on the move as China eyes holiday bounce
BEIJING: Hundreds of millions in China hustled to enjoy their first major national holiday since the country beat its coronavirus outbreak, filling airports and train stations yesterday.
The Golden Week holiday marks the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and sees an astonishing annual movement of people trying to get home or take holidays.
But this year has added significance, with the crowds filling the concourses pointing to a country rebounding from the outbreak and parading the freedom to travel as a contrast to the rolling lockdowns hitting much of the world.
“Normally, we would take a family holiday abroad... but this year we opted for a staycation instead,” said Niu Honglin from Shanghai.
Domestic travel has sprung back to life and given the economy a boost after the virus shuttered businesses and scared away tourists following its emergence in Wuhan last year.
“People are travelling with a vengeance!” said Huo Binxing, a banker from Beijing who is heading to Lhasa in Tibet.
“It’s our first chance to unwind after such a stressful period.”
More than 600 million trips will be taken during the holiday, down 20 percent from a year ago, Ctrip estimated, but they will still force the state railway to lay on 1,000 extra trains a day.
Around 108 million passengers will take trains during the eightday holidays – around 13.5 million a day. They are likely to bring much-needed spending to farflung parts of China – last year, travellers spent US$9.5 billion during the Golden Week.