Tourism data hits record high during May Day holiday

Data released by multiple cultural and tourism departments of the country shows that the number of tourists recorded on the first two days of the May Day holiday exceeded that of the same period last year.

For instance, on Friday, the second day of the May Day holiday, Hunan province saw a flow of 14.4 million visitors, a 33.88 percent year-on-year increase.

During the first two days of the May Day holiday, A-level tourist attractions in Hubei province welcomed a total of 7.73 million visitors, marking a 30.75 percent increase compared to the previous year. More than 20 tourist spots in Hubei have reached full capacity and are now enforcing crowd control measures.

As of 5 pm on Thursday, the first day of the May Day holiday, a total of 905 A-level scenic spots in Sichuan province received 5.19 million visitors, generating a ticket revenue of 43.65 million yuan ($6 million), marking respective increases of 21.17 percent and 19.04 percent compared to the same period last year.

Besides, outbound tourism during the holiday period has sustained the momentum observed during this year's Spring Festival and Qingming Festival holiday.

According to travel platform Fliggy, a significant surge in outbound tourism was shown on the first day of the May Day holiday, with ticket orders for outbound tours rising by over 130 percent and orders for international cruise products soaring by 149 percent. Popular outbound destinations include Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Thailand, South Korea, France, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Data from travel platform Ctrip reveals that while domestic travel continues to be popular, inbound and outbound travel experienced even greater growth. Ticket bookings on the platform for May 1 visits to domestic attractions surged by nearly 20 percent year-on-year, while inbound travel orders skyrocketed by 141 percent.

On May 1, the national railway system transported a record high of 23.12 million passengers, a 11.7 percent year-on-year increase, according to China Railway Group.

Among them, high-speed train services carried 15.67 million passengers, marking a year-on-year increase of 16.1 percent, also setting historical record, the group said.

On May 1, a total of 13,800 passenger trains were operated, including over 2,000 additional trains, to meet the growing travel demands of railway passengers to the fullest.