ABOUT 200 million travelers are expected to hit the road during the upcoming Labor Day holiday, a major online travel agency reported. According to Trip.com, one of the biggest domestic online travel agencies in China, as of April 14, bookings for the May Day holiday saw significant increase as compared with the same period in 2019. Air ticket bookings were up by 23 percent, hotel bookings 43 percent, tourist attraction tickets by 114 percent and car rental bookings by 126 percent. About 70 percent of those who placed orders have chosen inter-provincial travel. Dai Bin, head of the China Tourism Academy, said the second quarter is usually peak season for travel as it covers Qingming, Labor Day and Dragon Boat festivals. He says the holiday is likely to become a turning point for the domestic tourism industry which has been severly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. (China Daily) |