China expects 550 million tourists in October – The Manila Times



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BEIJING: China is expected to register 550 million domestic tourists during the next eight days of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays starting on October 1, and the sector is resuming full operations while normalizing the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism made the prediction Sunday at a press conference, citing data from the China Tourism Academy, which reports to the ministry. Tours both within and between provinces are booming.

Citizens take photos of the illuminations at the Largo Do Senado in Macau, south China, on September 25, 2020. The streets, squares, gardens and main buildings of Macau are decorated with illuminations to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday. PHOTO XINHUA

By mid-September, 29,694 travel agencies had resumed operations, representing 75.7 percent of the total, and group tourism recovered to about 40 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.

The online travel company business has recovered to about 40 percent from a year earlier, and the star hotel business had a 91 percent recovery rate.

A report sent by one of China’s largest travel agencies, Ctrip, to the Global Times on Sunday predicted more than 600 million domestic trips, or 70 to 80 percent of the normal level. Longer vacations this year will offer people more options, a Ctrip staff member said.

By mid-September, flight bookings for major domestic routes were up more than 200 percent from the previous month, and the most popular trains were sold out, Ctrip said. Both the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day fall on October 1 this year, and people will have eight consecutive days of vacation.

The report says that Lijiang, in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, is one of the most popular destinations for private travel groups, despite the recent detection of two cases of Covid-19 imported from Myanmar.

Hotels and major scenic spots in Yunnan are disinfecting their facilities, and many will adopt crowd limits and require appointments to enter. A hotel owner in Lijiang told the Global Times that all the rooms were booked two months ago. Each room has a medicine cabinet with antipyretic drugs and a thermometer, the owner said.

In addition, East China’s Shanghai, the coastal city Sanya of South China’s Hainan Province, and Chengdu of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province are popular destinations.

The cultural industries are also doing well. The ministry said that by mid-September, 790 theaters had reopened across the country, representing 36.5 percent of the total, and 47,600 dance and entertainment venues resumed their activities, with a recovery rate of 93.3. percent.

In the first half of 2020, the operating income of network performance companies nationwide reached 42.73 billion yuan, up 34 percent year-on-year.



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