China is coming to the end of its five-day Labour Day holiday with travel and consumption returning to, and even surpassing, pre-COVID levels.
According to popular online travel agency Fliggy, this year’s Labour Day saw the highest tourism numbers in history. The number of flight tickets, hotel bookings, B&B, attraction tickets, and car rentals booked on Fliggy surpassed that of before the pandemic. Tickets for landmarks increased by more than 420% year-on-year, and hotel bookings surpassed last year’s rate by over 200%.
On Labour Day itself, 18.83 million passengers used China’s railways, setting a new high for the number of passengers travelling by rail on a single day. Shanghai was one of the most popular tourist destinations, attracting over 400,000 tourists on May 1 alone.
Ele.me’s “Labour Day Consumption Report” shows that the number of takeaway orders in the first three days of May skyrocketed, becoming the highest in the past five years. Among them, the number of takeaway orders for hotels and attractions doubled compared to 2020 and were significantly higher than this year’s Qingming festival holiday. Attractions in Hangzhou, Qingdao, and Suzhou had the highest number of takeaway orders, highlighting their popularity as short-break destinations.
Tourism and hospitality were not the only industries to receive a boost from the holiday, China’s entertainment industry also experienced a growth in sales. As of 9 am on May 3, the total box office, including pre-sales, for the national holiday exceeded 900 million RMB ($139 million). The top three most popular films during the holiday were:
- Your Wedding: 305 million RMB revenue
- Above the Cliff: 218 million RMB revenue
- Secret Visitor: 135 million RMB revenue
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