Tourists visit the ancient capital of Tianshui, Qinzhou District, Tianshui City, northwest China's Gansu Province, on May 1, 2024. During the five-day May Day holiday starting May 1, traffic at tourist destinations across the country surged. [Photo/Xinhua]
Chinese people's increased desire to travel and spend increased the number of tourists to domestic and international destinations during the just-ended May Day holiday.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 295 million people visited scenic spots in the country during the five-day holiday period from Wednesday to Sunday, an increase of 7.6% from the previous year. This figure marks a 28.2 percent increase compared to 2019, before the epidemic struck. Last year's vacation lasted 5 days, and in 2019 it lasted 4 days.
These visits resulted in tourism-related revenue of approximately 166.89 billion yuan ($23.14 billion), an increase of 12.7% year-on-year and 13.5% compared to the same period in 2019.
Within the country, long-distance tours were preferred by travelers. The ministry said some third-tier and rural destinations, such as Liuzhou in Guangxi and Zibo in Shandong province, were crowded with tourists due to their low costs and delicious food.
International travel has also recovered steadily thanks to the addition of international flights and more convenient immigration policies. According to the ministry, about 1.9 million people leaving mainland China traveled to overseas destinations during the holidays, bringing the number of overseas visitors to the mainland to 1.78 million during the period.
