A total of nine billion domestic trips are expected to be made during a 40-day travel rush during the Lunar New Year holidays, or Chinese New Year, which fall on February 10 this year.
During the Lunar New Year travel rush, the aviation regulator expects a surge of 80 million air trips during this annual event, or an increase of 9.8 per cent compared to the figures registered before the spread of the coronavirus and its new variants in 2019, VisaGuide.World reports.
Besides, airports in Beijing are expected to see over 60 per cent increase in passenger numbers.
A report from Reuters shows that Miranda Guo, a 25-year-old cartoonist from a tech firm in Hangzhou, secured a seat on a bullet train to Jinan. However, she was required to pay an extra 60 yuan, which is 13 per cent of the ticket price for an “accelerator package” from third-party booking apps.
I think it’s hard to buy a ticket this year, with almost all my colleagues failing to get tickets. Many of them are still on waiting lists.
In addition, China aviation authorities have also arranged over 2,500 additional international flights to Asian destinations, taking into account Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Korea.
Besides, additional railways and flights are also arranged for popular domestic tourism cities, taking into account Harbin, in northeast China and Sanya, a popular destination in the south.
A report from VOA in August last year noted that the number of tourists to China didn’t improve significantly in spite of its full opening in March, thus removing the COVID-related restrictions.
The same noted that in spite of China not publishing official tourism statistics since 2021, international tourist arrivals in Shangai totalled just over 910,000 for a period from January until May last year, with almost half of them arriving from Hong Kong, Macau and Tawan.
Wendy Wu, the founder of Wendy Wu Tours, an operator of tours to China and other Asian destinations, said customer demand for the company’s tour to China is nearly 35 per cent to 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
As part of the efforts to boost the tourism industry, China is attempting to find effective ways to bring a larger number of international visitors to this country.
China and Thailand signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption that is expected to become effective from March 1 this year.
In addition, China reached visa exemption agreements with other Southeast Asian countries as well.