China : 600 million domestic trips during Mid-Autumn Festival holiday , Air travel exceed year-earlier level

Beijing : Chinese tourists are expected to make 600 million domestic trips during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from Oct. 1 to 8, said a report released by the country’s major online travel agency Trip.com Group.

In the run-up to the holiday, over 1,500 tourist attractions have unveiled discounts or ticket-free policies, and authorities in more than 20 provincial-level regions have introduced coupons to further revive tourism, according to the report.

Data from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed a positive trend in the recovery and development of the country’s tourism industry, with epidemic control measures in place.

In the third quarter, the number of tourists at the A-level tourist attractions nationwide reached about 70 percent of the same period last year, and the numbers at some local tourist sites were close to the same period as the previous year, Xinhua reports.

During the week-long National Day holiday in 2019, China saw a total of 782 million domestic tourist trips, up 7.81 percent year on year.

Air travel may exceed year-earlier level for holiday

Similarly , the Chinese aviation industry, which was hard hit by the coronavirus, is reviving with the coming eight-day holiday period expected to spur a new round of travel fever, Tu Lei reports in Global Times.

Estimates from airports around the nation indicate they expect to see a passenger travel peak during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, a sign that the sector is recovering.

Two airports in Beijing are expected to serve about 2 million people from September 28 to October 11. Flights from Beijing Capital International Airport may carry 2.189 million passengers and Beijing Daxing International Airport another 750,000, data from the airports said.

Other airports such as Taiyuan airport in Taiyuan, North China’s Shanxi Province and the airport in Hotan County, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, see passenger throughput coming back.

The travel fever is also boosting the number of domestic flights.

China Southern Airlines plans to operate about 2,000 flights at the Daxing hub during the holiday period, with a maximum of 220 flights per day. It is estimated that more than 160,000 passengers will take China Southern Airlines flights from Daxing airport to more than 40 major cities across the country.

China Eastern Airlines said it plans to operate 24,202 flights with 4.033 million seats during the holidays, and flying capacity will basically return to the same period last year.

Data from information provider VariFlight showed that the total number of flights during the coming holidays has returned to the level of 2019, indicating an ongoing industry recovery.

Airlines’ performances set a monthly record in August. Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed a recovery of more than 80 percent, exceeding the January figure before the virus-induced lockdowns.

Outbound travel has also seen a rebound recently. Air China will resume daily flights from Wuhan, Hubei Province to Macao , the second regular international route restored after the Wuhan-Seoul route. Source : Xinhua / Global Times

October 1 , 2020

Image : National flags are on display at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing to mark the National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival . [Photo/VCG]