China’s Tourism Rebounds Above Pre-Pandemic Levels

China’s domestic tourism rebounded above pre-pandemic levels during the five-day May Day break.

According to China’s Ministry of Tourism, tourists made 274m trips within the country during the holiday period.

That was almost 20% higher than in 2019, before the outbreak of Covid-19 triggered lockdowns across the country.

Official figures also show that tourists spent $21bn (£16.7bn) during the period, more than twice the amount seen at the same time last year.

President of the China Tourism Academy Dai Bin, speaking to the official state news agency said “This can be seen as a turning point of China’s tourism sector. The market performance has truly returned to its 2019 level.”

However, some experts highlight that while Chinese people were travelling again, they are not spending as much as before the pandemic.

Domestic tourists were “trading down” as opposed to “spending up,” said Standard Chartered’s Raymond Cheng.

This puts into doubt whether a tourism rebound would lead to a significant economic boost for the country, he added.

Outside of China, the country’s tourists could help support the recovery of the global travel industry.

Before Covid, China was the most important source of international tourists, with more than 150m Chinese people taking trips overseas each year.

During the May Day holiday, an average of 1.2m Chinese people travelled abroad each day, according to state media. That was twice last year’s figure.

That was as tourists from Mainland China travelled to destinations like Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

However, airline bookings by Chinese tourists travelling abroad were still around half what they were before the pandemic, according to travel data firm Forward Keys.