China’s tourism industry has rebounded to pre-COVID levels as Chinese citizens travel during the Lunar New Year holiday, according to data from the Trip.com website. After the government lifted restrictions on travel to control the spread of COVID-19, bookings for hotels, bed and breakfasts, and travel tickets in the first four days of the Lunar New Year broke records set in 2019. B&B bookings more than doubled compared to the same period last year, while the number of travel tickets increased by over 50%.
The relaxation of COVID-19 control measures also played a role in driving outbound tourism during the Lunar New Year holiday. Mainland Chinese outbound air ticket bookings increased over four times compared to the previous year, while the number of hotel bookings by outbound travelers doubled.
Hong Kong and Macau were the top destinations for mainland travelers, followed by Bangkok, Singapore, and Phuket. This information is consistent with data from Fliggy, Alibaba’s travel platform, which showed that hotel bookings in China were higher than the same period in 2019.