.Photo:Xinhua

Beijing opened up tourist attractions and travel agencies resumed for the upcoming holiday on May 1st, but outbound travel is still not encouraged.

As the five-day International Labor Day holiday approaches, Beijing has announced the resumption of travel agencies' group tours inside the city during the holiday and suggested the agencies could develop small-scale and customized tours for local residents, said Zhou Weimin, an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism said at Monday's press conference. 

The city also encouraged all natural landscape scenic areas to reopen for visitors before the end of April, Zhou noted. 

To avoid the risk of clustered infections among visitors, the scenic spots will restrict traffic flows by using online reservation systems to control the number of visits in different timeslots and banning gathering in indoor areas, according to Zhou. 

Residents are advised not to travel overseas or to domestic cities that have a high risk of COVID-19 during the holiday, even though the pandemic is ebbing in the country. 

All overseas arrivals and returned nationals still need to go through medical observation and are subject to health management in Beijing, said Xu Hejian, municipal government spokesman, at a press conference on Monday. 

Students and teachers who have returned to school are also not encouraged to leave Beijing to ensure their safety, Xu noted. Nearly 50,000 high school senior students in the city went back to school on Monday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.