Travel bags are out for May Day holiday

China is expected to see an influx of inbound tourists as well as rising numbers of domestic travelers during the upcoming May Day holiday that starts May 1, and bookings ahead of the period have surged as travel fervor heats up.

During the five-day holiday, the daily volume of cross-regional personnel exchanges is expected to top 260 million passenger trips, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Transport.

China's favorable policies that allow overseas visitors to get tax refunds right after purchases at designated stores nationwide are encouraging more people to visit the nation. For the May Day holiday, the booking volume for inbound travel products has already surged over 170 percent year-on-year, according to Trip.com Group, China's largest online travel agency.

"Inbound tourism has entered a new stage of prosperous growth, fueled by China's increasing opening-up to the outside world. More public cultural and leisure venues in the country have become new places that meet the diverse and personalized demands of inbound tourists," said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy.

"Data indicate that factors such as sustained growth of the Chinese economy, the country's huge population, and abundant natural and cultural resources will support the long-term growth of the tourism economy, and the domestic tourism market is steadily moving toward a new cycle of prosperous development," Dai said.

As part of its latest moves to boost consumption, China plans to further expand its unilateral visa-free entry policy in an orderly manner, and better leverage the role of tax refund stores and tax refund policies by opening more such stores and optimizing tax refund procedures for overseas visitors.

China will accelerate the transformation of five major cities — Shanghai; Beijing; Guangzhou, Guangdong province; Tianjin; and Chongqing — into global consumption centers on par with New York and London, and create globally attractive retail environments.

Last year, the number of inbound foreign travelers who visited the above-mentioned five cities doubled from that in 2023, said the National Immigration Administration.

"In those five cities, the number of tax refund stores for overseas visitors accounted for 60 percent in the country last year, and total sales made up for over 70 percent of the value nationwide," said Li Gang, director-general of the department of market operation and consumption promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, during a news conference earlier in Beijing.

For the May Day holiday, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Russia, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States have been listed among the top source countries for inbound tourists, and their top destinations in China include Shanghai; Beijing; Guangzhou and Shenzhen of Guangdong; Chengdu, Sichuan province; and Chongqing, Trip.com found.

"In late April and early May, Japan also celebrates several public holidays and employees get those days off from work. During this year's May Day holiday, the booking volume of inbound travel products made by Japanese tourists has nearly doubled year-on-year," said Shen Jiani, a senior researcher with Trip.com.

Meanwhile, Chinese travelers have continued to show enthusiasm for overseas trips, and they are expected to visit over 1,300 cities worldwide, up by more than 290 cities over the same holiday period last year, according to Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency.

Fueled by favorable visa policies issued by multiple countries to Chinese visitors and the launch of more international flights, some short-haul and mid-haul overseas destinations have become hot choices for Chinese consumers, and many employees have asked for a few days off from work to combine with the current holiday period.

For the May Day holiday, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore have seen robust bookings of hotels by Chinese mainland travelers. Emerging destinations such as Qatar, Austria, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Norway have seen rapid growth in hotel bookings, thanks to their unique tourism resources, Trip.com found.

In addition, Chinese travelers have become more interested in taking chartered tours, and the overall booking volumes of chartered tours during the holiday have grown by nearly 25 percent year-on-year. Particularly, bookings for such tours to Japan have jumped by 60 percent on a yearly basis, Trip.com said.

Still, many tourists tend to book their travel products at the last minute, instead of in advance, and the tourism market is likely to see more significant changes, said Tuniu Corp, a Nanjing, Jiangsu province-based online travel agency.

Viewing cherry blossoms tops the list of activities this year, and a large number of Chinese visitors are opting for flower viewing tours.

"Viewing cherry blossoms in Japan has been popular since the start of the season this spring. Despite the season coming to an end in most areas of Japan, Chinese tourists have remained passionate about traveling to Japan," said Qi Chunguang, vice-president of Tuniu.

Lily Wang, a 30-year-old office employee in Shanghai, plans to fly by domestic budget carrier Spring Airlines to Saga, Japan, during the May Day holiday. She said she has visited Japan multiple times and found its charm unique during each such visit.

"Extra direct flights have been launched between China and Japan, especially between Shanghai and some niche Japanese destinations, and the travel package comes at a good price, making it quite convenient for travel," Wang said.

Meanwhile, Chinese consumers' demand for domestic tours is also rising sharply, and residents from top-tier and second-tier cities remain the backbone of those who plan to travel.

With vibrant spring days around and temperatures rising across China, cities in the southern part of the country such as Wuxi, Jiangsu province; Hangzhou and Shaoxing in Zhejiang province; and Wuhan, Hubei province; are expected to welcome more tourists, Tuniu said.

Northern coastal cities such as Qingdao and Weihai in Shandong province, and Dalian, Liaoning province, are also expected to welcome more tourists, Tuniu said.

A surge in travel demand has also driven business growth for airlines, and carriers are launching new flights or adding frequencies on existing routes to cater to growing numbers.

For instance, Tianjin Airlines has launched flights connecting Yantai with Dalian, Hangzhou, and Ningbo, and the one-way flight ticket rate is as low as 300 yuan ($41.2) per person.

In Northwest China, Tianjin Airlines has launched multiple cross-regional routes with Xi'an, Shaanxi province, as its hub, such as routes connecting Xi'an with Songyuan, Jilin province; Rizhao, Shandong province; and Taizhou, Zhejiang province.

Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific Airways launched direct flights connecting Hong Kong and Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, starting Monday.

The new four-flights-per-week return service will take the airline's passenger network in the Chinese mainland to 20 destinations.