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BEIJING: Hundreds of millions in China rushed to enjoy their first major national holiday since the country beat its COVID-19 outbreak, filling airports and train stations on Thursday (October 1).
The Golden Week holiday marks the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and sees an astonishing annual movement of people trying to get home or take vacations.
But this year it has grown in prominence, with crowds filling the esplanades pointing to a country recovering from the outbreak and flaunting the freedom to travel in contrast to the emergency closures that plague much of the world.
“Normally, we would go on a family vacation abroad during Golden Week, but this year we opted for a vacation at home,” said Niu Honglin from Shanghai.
Niu booked rooms at a boutique hotel near Shanghai Disneyland, but quickly ran into the problem of millions of additional tourists seeking fun at home.
“My daughter had to wait in line for almost three hours to get on,” he said.
A girl wearing a face mask poses for a photo at Shanghai Disney Resort as Shanghai Disneyland theme park reopens in Shanghai, China, on May 11, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Aly Song)
Zhao Kerui, a designer with a flexible work schedule, often takes several trips abroad each year. Last year he visited Malaysia and Japan.
He had planned to visit Istanbul or Jeju Island in South Korea this year, but ultimately decided to visit cities like Chengdu, known for being the home of pandas, as well as picturesque Guilin, famous for its karst limestone hills.
“To make a trip abroad, they will quarantine him for half a month when he arrives, and when he comes back, it will be another half month of quarantine,” Zhao said. “A month has passed without you doing anything at all.”
Tourists gather at a waterfront pavilion on West Lake in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on Oct. 1, 2020 (Photo: Chinatopix via AP).
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Domestic travel has come back to life and given a boost to the economy after the virus shut down businesses and drove away tourists after its appearance in Wuhan late last year.
“The Chinese economy has shown strong resilience,” Prime Minister Li Keqiang told parliament on Wednesday.
“We will foster new engines of growth,” he promised, praising the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Wuhan, in central China, has also returned to business, with visitors flocking to the Yellow Crane Tower, a Taoist shrine, according to the country’s largest travel agency Ctrip.
A man pushes a woman in a wheelchair holding a Chinese flag along a covered walkway at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2020 (Photo: AP / Mark Schiefelbein)
I SPEND A LOT
More than 600 million trips will be made during the holidays, 20 percent less than a year ago, Ctrip estimated, but they will still force the state railroad to place 1,000 additional trains a day.
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Visitors stand at a door at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, October 1, 2020 (Photo: AP / Mark Schiefelbein)
About 108 million passengers will take trains during the eight-day vacation, about 13.5 million a day.
They are likely to take much-needed expense to remote parts of China. Last year, travelers spent 9.5 billion dollars during Golden Week.
Many will take luxury vacations at home, said travel operator Quanar, amid global travel restrictions.
But the absence of its tourism dollars this year will leave regional nations from Thailand to Cambodia wince over the economic pain caused by the prolonged border closures.
Cao Ke, a scientific researcher based in Shanghai, often spends his National Day holidays relaxing on the beaches of the Thai island of Phuket.
This year, he heads to the southern coastal province of Fujian in China, hoping to snap some good photos.
“Generally, I prefer to travel abroad, because there are too many people who travel within the country and accommodation and meals become very expensive,” Cao said.
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A woman adjusts her clothes near the Chinese national flag that flies in Tiananmen Square during the National Day in Beijing, on October 1, 2020 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
At Beijing Capital Airport, whose lanes and check-in aisles were empty in February, thousands of passengers queued with their luggage and children in tow.
Life in the Chinese capital has gradually returned to normal after ghostly scenes of empty roads in January and February, and a second virus outbreak in June.
The once eerily empty streets in the city’s financial district are crowded, previously deserted shopping malls are full of shoppers, and ice rinks have been filled with children learning to skate again.
Chinese retail sales grew again in August for the first time since the pandemic hit, signaling a rebound for the world’s second-largest economy.
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