Summer vacation tourism sees recovery

As of Aug 28, several domestic online travel agencies, including Ctrip, Qunar, Fliggy and Tuniu have posted their data of this year's summer vacation.

During the first month of the summer vacation, long-haul tourism saw a steady recovery after the cautionary asterisk was removed from China's travel code apps.

Data from Tuniu showed in July, 84 percent of travelers chose independent long distance trips. By the end of July, the number of travelers booking independent tourism products increased by 5 percentage points from the same period of last year.

With more scientific, precise and optimized epidemic control measures, people are more willing therefore confidence in travel is improving, said Xie Xiaoqing, a senior researcher at the Ctrip Research Institute.

Steady travel growth in parent and children, as well as young people underlines resilience of the domestic tourism consumption market, Xie added.

Data from Qunar showed long-haul trips faced some challenges in early August, due to sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 in some cities. However, thanks to tourism consumption coupons issued by the government, local tourism saw some recovery, and didn't affect the whole summer vacation market.

Data from short-term rental booking platform Muniao showed as of Aug 21, orders during the summer vacation period was 1.8 times the same period of 2019.

As the back-to-school season approaches, the tourism market is expected to undergo some changes in the second half of this year.

Gu Huimin, a professor with the School of Tourism Sciences at Beijing International Studies University, told Beijing Business Today that the arrival of new semester will lead to reduction of parent-child trips.

Meanwhile, considering the Mid-Autumn Festival is close to the back-to-school date, peak tourist time will focus on the National Day holiday.

It's predicted that people will still visit destinations close to home, or chose to vacation locally during this year's golden week, Gu said, adding that merchants could launch promotion events, enhance the quality of products, in a bid to stimulate consumers' travel and shopping desire.