May 1st Holiday Is Driving A Surge In Chinese Flight Bookings

It is now half a month until the upcoming five consecutive days of public holiday starting from April 29th in China. This public holiday will be the first long vacation for the Chinese to travel after completely relaxing the COVID-19 restrictions at the beginning of 2023.
Data from leading Chinese online travel agency Ctrip.com shows that domestic travel bookings have reached the level in 2019, with a year-on-year growth of more than eight times. International travel bookings increased by more than 12 times compared to last year, and the number of overseas group tours has increased by 137% since the beginning of April.
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According to Fang Zeqian, an analyst from Ctrip Research Institute,
“Since the Spring Festival holiday, the first half of the year has only had one day off during the Tomb Sweeping Day in addition to the five-day May 1st holiday. If three days off are taken on May 4th, 5th, and 6th, it can be combined into a nine-day-long holiday. The travel demand accumulated since February is expected to be released during the May 1st holiday. Domestic major tourist cities and holiday tourism destinations will benefit from it. International travel is also expected to have a small peak during the May 1st holiday”,
Domestic travel bookings surge
As of last week, data shows the most popular domestic destinations for May 1st holiday are still the big metropolitan like Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Changsha.
Photo: Markus Mainka/Shutterstock
Regarding travel distance, as of last week, the demand for long-distance travel accounted for more than 60% of the total bookings, and the orders for long-distance travel increased by 811% compared with last year. The demand for short-distance travel increased relatively less, which also shows that with this long waiting holiday, more Chinese tourists hope to “make the most of this trip” and go further.
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Blowout growth for international travel
Data from Ctrip.com shows the top five international/regional destinations are Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, and Malaysia.
With the launch of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Express Train, travel from the mainland to Hong Kong has become more convenient. Now it takes 7 hours and 56 minutes and HK$1,021.91 (US$ 130.18) from Shanghai to Hong Kong on a high-speed train.
In the past two weeks, the number of orders for personal travel and group tours from the mainland to Hong Kong increased by 213% and 720%, respectively.
Photo: Sudpoth Sirirattanasakul/Shutterstock
Popular group tour routes during the May 1st holiday included Thailand, Singapore + Malaysia, Hong Kong + Macau, Maldives, Dubai + Abu Dhabi, Indonesia Bali, New Zealand, Egypt, and Vietnam.
Data shows who booked the international tours were mainly young people. Almost 70% of international group tourists were between 18 and 40, and nearly 40% were between 25 and 35. There was a clear trend of families traveling and children accompanying their parents on holiday trips. These trip bookings are greater than 30% of the total bookings.
Source: Ctrip.com