Outbound travel bookings for May Day holiday increase

The May Day holiday is still more than one month away, but Chinese travelers have already made their travel plans for the holiday.

Statistics from Alibaba's travel branch Fliggy indicated that bookings made for this year's holiday have increased significantly compared to the previous three years and the demand for long-distance trips has continued to recover.

An Egyptian artist performs a traditional folk dance to welcome Chinese tourists at the Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

Bookings for outbound travel products have also surged as pandemic restrictions have been relaxed and more overseas destinations are put on the option lists for Chinese tourists.

Many travel agencies have found that their outbound group travel products for the May Day holiday are popular among tourists, and office workers are opting to piece their holidays together for a longer one so that they can travel abroad.

The GZL International Travel Service, affiliated to the Lingnan Commercial and Tourism Group which is based in Guangzhou city, south China's Guangdong Province, disclosed that its group tours from Guangzhou to overseas destinations on April 25, 26, 28 and 29 have been fully booked.

Statistics from online travel agency Tuniu showed that as of March 20, bookings for outbound travel products had accounted for 26 percent of the total number of bookings for May Day holiday received by the platform.

Another online travel agency, Ctrip, said that it saw a 167 percent surge in the number of outbound group tour products for the May Day holiday during the past half month.

Zhao Wenzhi, president of GZL International Travel Service, said some long-distance outbound travel routes have shown a better-than-expected performance and that the May Day holiday will accelerate the recovery of outbound travel. He said this momentum will continue after the holiday.

Statistics from online travel platform TravelGo showed that China’s Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Russia are popular tourist destinations for the May Day holiday.

Fliggy said that it has sold more than 200,000 products during a promotion activity it launched in late February, with more than 70 percent of the booked products valid during the May Day holiday.

Statistics from Ctrip indicated that Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Macao, Phuket and Taipei are among the destinations with the highest air ticket bookings for the May Day holiday.