Foreign visitors leave the Palace Museum in Beijing on Friday. WANG XIN/FOR CHINA DAILY
Travel agencies and tourism experts said they are bullish about the tourism market's performance during the upcoming May Day holiday, with both domestic and outbound tourism visits projected to boom during the period.
Their confidence is supported by strong tourism consumption figures logged in the first quarter. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the number of domestic tourist visits reached some 1.8 billion in the first three months, an increase of 26.4 percent year-on-year, leading to tourism-related consumption of about 1.8 trillion yuan ($250 billion), surging 18.6 percent on a yearly basis.
A five-day vacation starting next Thursday, the May Day holiday is the last long holiday in China in the first half of the year. Based on tourism bookings to date for the break, many travel agencies expect domestic tourism market performance to outperform that of each of the previous two years.
Travel portal Tuniu said that by mid-April, tourism bookings on the platform linked to domestic destinations had increased by 100 percent compared to the same period last year.
Qi Chunguang, vice-president of Tuniu, said domestic long-distance and overseas short-distance tours have shown strong growth. Self-driving and self-guided tours will continue to see remarkable increases as the holiday approaches.
Travel services provider Qunar said tourism to smaller cities, counties and towns is showing an uptrend, especially among young travelers seeking unique experiences, with top destinations that are lesser-known but trendy including Pingtan county, Fujian province; Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region; and Anji county, Zhejiang province.
"I wish to go to a place without crowds over the holiday. It's a good time to escape from work and I will let myself be fully immersed in nature," said Li Miao, 31, from Shanghai, who will spend four days and three nights in Anji — famous for beautiful countryside scenes and well-designed homestays — over the holiday.
Travel agencies and tourism experts also placed high hopes on the performance of outbound and inbound tourism activity during the holiday.
Trip.com said the booking volume for its car rental services at overseas destinations is expected to surge 25 percent year-on-year over the holiday. Popular overseas destinations remain those with shorter travel times, such as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. In addition, more destinations — such as Qatar, Austria and Kazakhstan — are emerging as trending options thanks to optimized visa policies, increased flights and more air routes, said the group.
"My husband and I will ask for an extra two days' leave and have a seven-day break for our trip to Norway," said Song Haiyan, 34, from Beijing, who will leave for the country on Thursday. She said that as May is not a traditional travel peak season in Norway, taking a trip there now is an economical choice for them.
Trip.com said inbound tourism will also enjoy an increase over the holiday thanks to the optimized entry and tax refund policies. Videos promoting recent trips in China by YouTube star Darren Jason Watkins Jr — also known as IShowSpeed — who boasts 39.2 million subscribers, have gone viral among travelers globally, the group added.
春节假期中国快递包裹投递量日均同比增82.1% 中新社北京2月18日电 (记者 刘育英)中国国家邮政局监测数据显示，今年春节长假期间(2月10日至17日)，中国邮政快递业投递快递包裹6.41亿件，日均投递量与2023年春节假期 长三角观察｜揽人、赶工、抢订单：春节拼经济“热辣滚烫” 2月10日是正月初一，上午10点，满载工业品、电子产品和衣帽服饰的新春首列“义新欧”中欧班列从浙江义乌铁路口岸出发，驶往西班牙马德里。 在江苏昆山的华 傅园慧称在长白山包车被勒索 当地交通部门：正按流程处理 中新网北京2月17日电(记者 刘星晨)17日，游泳世界冠军傅园慧通过社交平台发布求助帖称，她在吉林长白山包车出行时遭遇勒索，询问网友是否需要报警。 图片 美国国务卿布林肯近日在参加慕安会时说的一句话，可以被解读的空间很大，也值得深入解读一下。他在回答主持人关于“美中紧张局势正在导致更大的分裂”提问时引用了一句美国俚语，称在国际体系当中，“如 2月21日，湖北省仙桃市委书记孙道军，市委副书记、代市长熊享涛，会见湖北鼎龙控股股份有限公司董事长朱双全、深圳深创生物医药有限公司董事长马亚平一行，就具体项目开展洽谈。政企双方表示，要务实合作、携 福建今年首个核电机组工程开工 中新社漳州2月22日电 (记者 张金川)福建漳州核电3号机组22日开工建设，这是福建今年首台开工建设的核电机组，标志着漳州核电二期工程建设序幕全面拉开。 据悉，此次开工的二期工程 。本文链接：Tourism boom tipped for May Day breakhttp://www.sushuapos.com/show-5-55071-0.html
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