China's travel industry returns to pre-pandemic level
China's travel industry bounced back to pre-coronavirus level by some metrics over the three-day Tomb Sweeping Day, or Qingming, Festival, from Saturday to Monday, Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
During this holiday, Chinese travelers made 102 million trips, more than double that of the same period a year earlier and equivalent to 94.5 percent of trips over the holiday in 2019, according to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Travel bookings via Trip.com, China's largest travel-booking site, over the holiday quadrupled compared with a year earlier, the company said, as reported by the Journal.
The number of domestic flight and hotel reservations grew by double digits from levels recorded during the same period in 2019, and ticket reservations for scenic spots were more than three times 2019's levels, Trip.com reported.
The Caixin nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index showed a surge to 56.3 in March, from 51.4 in February.
China's restaurant and movie businesses also benefited from the recent improvement in public sentiment, the report said.
The sales volumes for some restaurants and catering companies were more than double the total from the previous year, according to NetsUnion Clearing Corp, which operates a nationwide platform for processing online transactions.
Film and entertainment receipts were 68 percent higher than a year ago with recent COVID-19 wave under control, the company said.
The sales of China's box office reached $125 million over the three-day holiday, up more than 17 percent from the same period in 2019, according to box-office tracker Lighthouse.
Tourism revenue during the Tomb Sweeping Day came in at the equivalent of $4.14 billion, more than three times last year's intake, according to China's tourism ministry.
China's recovery is still on its way and the recent holiday "gave a shock to the heart" of the domestic tourism industry, paving the way for the five-day Labor Day holiday that begins on May 1, the paper reported.
