Tourism market flourishes ahead of May Day holiday

China's inbound and outbound tourism market has shown flourishing signs for the upcoming five-day May Day holiday based on booking statistics, with Shanghai topping the list of popular destinations for inbound travelers, travel operators said.

Inbound tourism booking orders have already surged 130 percent during the holiday from the same period last year, China's global travel service provider Trip.com said on Tuesday.

Japan, the United States, South Korea, Canada, and Malaysia are the major inbound tourist source markets, it said.

Shanghai's inbound tourism booking figure has soared 117 percent for the holiday from the same period a year earlier.

Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Xi'an and Kunming are also popular destinations, the travel service provider said.

The number of outbound travel orders for Shanghai travelers has grown 87 percent from the same period in 2023, with long-distance tours dominating the holiday market.

Diversified destinations

Alongside the travel boom, the average air ticket price of a single domestic trip has increased by about 40 percent for the holiday compared with this year's Qingming Festival holiday.

Tongcheng Travel, another major online travel operator in China, said all railway tickets on some popular routes such as Beijing-Luoyang, Beijing-Zibo, and Shanghai-Wuhan with the departure date of April 30 were sold out on Tuesday, which was the first day of ticket sales for April 30.

The travel distance and duration of tourists have extended significantly during the holiday and concerts and music festivals have further fueled travel enthusiasm, Tongcheng said.

So far, Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Changsha are the most popular domestic destinations, with Universal Beijing Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, and Chimelong Paradise favored by families with children.

Yantai, a non-traditional destination in east China's Shandong Province, has drawn a large number of travelers as popular singer Hua Chenyu will host a concert in the city during the holiday, while Lishui in Zhejiang Province has also become a popular destination as the shooting place of popular TV series "The Legend of ShenLi."

Meanwhile, eying the booming tourism market, major Vietnam airlines operator Vietjet Air recently announced it would launch a new air route between Xi'an, northwestern Shaanxi Province, and Ho Chi Minh City from July 1. It has launched a massive promotion campaign with 1 million discounted tickets from 0 yuan distributed for the Chinese market through the end of this year.

It covers direct round-trip routes between Shanghai, Chengdu and Ho Chi Minh.

Four round-trip flights between Xi'an and Ho Chi Minh will be operated weekly from July.