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BEIJING: China’s most populous cities saw an increase in outgoing travelers, tourists, and hikers on May 1, the first day of a long vacation weekend. This was led by Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic that first hit the country late last year.
The number of people traveling outside their home cities increased 40% at the start of the Labor Day weekend, compared to the first day of Tomb Sweeping’s holiday on April 4, according to Reuters data estimates. from the Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc.
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Increasing one-way travel during the five-day vacation, one of China’s peak tourism periods each year, would help lift the travel and hospitality sectors that have been hit hard by the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic.
The increase in tourism was led by increases in travelers from Wuhan, Beijing, Dalian, Tianjin and Jinan, with China easing travel restrictions and relaxing quarantine rules amid declining coronavirus cases.
Hundreds of tourist spots have also been reopened, including the Forbidden City in Beijing, as authorities sought to revive and repair local economies.
The country registered more than 23 million domestic tourists on May 1, according to China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The Transportation Ministry expects 23.36 million travelers per day during the period, up from 19.9 million per day during the grave-sweeping vacation April 4-6.
But that estimate would still be well below 67.13 million travelers per day during the 2019 Labor Day vacation.
The expected drop is due in part to the fact that China has limited visitors to tourist spots with 30 percent capacity to comply with social distancing rules.
At West Lake in the eastern city of Hangzhou, the most popular vacation spot for the holidays, according to Baidu, 183,700 visitors were registered on May 1, less than a third of the numbers last year.
Some tourists also stayed closer to home, and others avoided areas like Heilongjiang province that still fight local virus groups.
Hubei province, where the epidemic emerged, was also not a favorite.
Hubei’s tourism department said its 22 reopened tourist sites received 109,664 visitors on May 1, 87 percent less than a year ago, while tourism revenue fell 95 percent to 6.79 million yuan ( $ 961,729).
China reported a new coronavirus case for May 1, up from 12 the previous day, and there were no new deaths, data from the country’s health authority showed on Saturday.
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