China Focus: China sees robust tourism during May Day holiday

Passengers walk into Wuhan Railway Station in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 5, 2021. During the five-day Labor Day holiday, about 4.03 million passenger trips were made via 117 railway stations administered by China Railway Wuhan Bureau Group Co., Ltd. (Photo by Zhao Jun/Xinhua)

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China witnessed robust tourism during the five-day May Day holiday that ended on Wednesday as COVID-19 has been brought under control and the vaccination rate is rising steadily in the country.

China saw a total of 230 million domestic tourist trips during the holiday, up 119.7 percent from last year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Here is some specific tourism data.

BEIJING

Beijing's municipal parks and scenic areas received a total of 7.68 million tourist visits during the holiday, said the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau.

The figure represented a growth of 77 percent year on year. It was also 6 percent higher than the same period of 2019.

More than 68 cultural activities featuring flower exhibitions and folk customs have been launched in parks, and the city has seen 172 flower-themed zones pop up since the beginning of spring, each with an area of over 1,000 square meters.

SHANGHAI

Shanghai recorded 16.89 million tourist visits during the May Day holiday, up 138.88 percent compared with the same period of 2020, according to the city's culture and tourism bureau.

Consumption driven by tourism reached around 40 billion yuan (about 6.18 billion U.S. dollars) during the holiday, data from card payment giant China UnionPay showed.

The 170 scenic areas in Shanghai had 6.64 million tourist visits, up 143 percent year on year. The key cultural sites in Shanghai received 1.65 million visits.

TIANJIN

China's northern port city of Tianjin received more than 6.4 million tourist visits during the holiday, up 15.1 percent from the same period in 2019, said the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

Tourism revenue of Tianjin totaled 4.8 billion yuan during the holiday, up 30.5 percent from the same period in 2019.

The city also saw its consumption markets soar during the holiday, said the municipal commission of commerce.

Data from the commission showed that 191 commercial enterprises in Tianjin raked in a total of 1.26 billion yuan during the holiday, up 19.8 percent from the same period last year.

HAINAN

China's southern island province of Hainan raked in approximately 993 million yuan in offshore duty-free sales during the holiday, up 248 percent year on year, according to the Haikou Customs.

Duty-free shops in Hainan received 121,000 customer visits and sold about 1.35 million duty-free goods, up 141 percent and 229 percent year on year, respectively.

GUANGXI

South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region received over 22 million tourist visits during the May Day holiday, up 198.2 percent year on year. Tourism consumption totaled 18.3 billion yuan, up 261.6 percent year on year, said the regional department of culture and tourism.

During the holiday, bookings of rural B&Bs in hot tourist destinations such as Beihai and Guilin in the region increased by 220 percent year on year. Enditem