A Chinese tourist poses for a photo with Maasai performers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, Feb. 11, 2023. A flight carrying 40 Chinese group tourists arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Saturday. This is the first outbound tour group from China to Kenya since China resumed outbound group travel to 20 countries.(Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese tourists are ramping up their bookings of cross-border trips for the coming five-day May Day holidays. Multiple industry insiders believe there will be a rebound in the domestic tourism sector due to a surge in demand. 
Overall domestic travel bookings during the May Day holidays this year have increased by 150 percent year-on-year, and the number of outbound travel bookings has increased by nearly 17 times year-on-year, according to data Trip.com sent to the Global Times on Friday.

Liu Jiang, executive general manager of CYTS Aoyou International Travel Co, told the Global Times on Monday that tourists usually need at least one month to prepare international trips, so now is the hottest period to make bookings for hotels and flights.

Liu has seen a 50 percent increase in her company’s query and booking volume for various international tourism products during the 2023 May Day holidays. “Some island countries in the Pacific such as Fiji and the Maldives, Middle Eastern countries such as Dubai, and countries in the Balkan Peninsula including Serbia and Albania are quite popular among our clients,” she said.

At the beginning of February, China resumed cross-border group tours to a first batch of 20 countries and regions after the country downgraded its COVID response in light of the evolving situation. Another 40 countries including Nepal, Vietnam and Iran were listed in the second batch of group tour destinations starting from March 15.

Jia Jianqiang, CEO of 6renyou, an online tourism agency in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday that the 2023 May Day holidays will be an important turning point for the domestic tourism industry amid a likely increase in tourist volume. 

He said that the current limited transport capacity of international flights and some countries’ visa policies are limiting cross-border trips from China, but the sector has still seen a strong rebound. 

Liu predicted the domestic trip booking peak for the May Day holidays will be in early to middle April, as tourists need less time to prepare for domestic trips.