On May 5, data disclosed by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that during the "May Day" holiday in 3, the total number of domestic tourism trips nationwide was 2023 million, a year-on-year increase of 2.74%, and recovered to 70.83% of the same period in 2019 on a comparable basis; The domestic tourism revenue reached 119.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1480.56%, and recovered to 128.90% of the same period in 2019 on a comparable basis.
It can be seen that the data of the "May Day" holiday in 2023 comprehensively exceeded the same period before the epidemic. Data from a number of online travel platforms also shows that although the duration of the May Day holiday is two days shorter than the Spring Festival, the enthusiasm of domestic tourists to travel is much higher than that of the Spring Festival, and many data on the May Day holiday soared year-on-year and hit a historical peak in the same period.
Why is May Day so "hot" this year?
In the event that outbound travel has not fully resumed
Travel demand is highly concentrated in domestic travel
Some insiders pointed out that the "May Day" holiday coincides with the handover of spring and summer, and the weather is suitable, which is originally a suitable season for travel, and superimposed on the "public holiday" will cause tourists to travel intensively.
In terms of policy, Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, said in an interview with The Paper that this year's "May Day" holiday is the first "May Day" long holiday after the optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, and both ends of the tourism market have ushered in a comprehensive recovery, especially the accelerated release of consumer demand. Compared with the Spring Festival holiday, "May Day", which has more prominent tourism holiday attributes, is the first long holiday after the full recovery of tourism consumption, and the large increase in passenger flow is inevitable.
Cheng Chaogong pointed out that from a structural point of view, when the outbound tourism market has not fully recovered, people's travel demand is highly concentrated in domestic travel, the domestic travel market has rebounded beyond expectations, the passenger flow in local areas has exceeded the reception capacity, and the supply of tourism services during the holidays of popular destinations has exceeded the demand.
According to data disclosed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the "May Day" holiday, the number of tourist trips across the country exceeded the level of the same period in 2019, the travel distance and consumption activity reached a record high, the tourist travel radius and destination recreation radius both increased, and the popularity of cross-city and inter-provincial travel of more than 300 kilometers increased significantly. The popularity of traditional domestic hot tourist destinations such as Beijing, Hangzhou, Dali and Xiamen has not decreased, and the popular cities such as Chongqing, Changsha and Zibo, and niche destinations such as Changxing and Xianju have attracted much attention, and parent-child play, intangible cultural heritage, leisure vacation, rural tourism, etc. have been favored. According to data monitoring, from 4:28 on April 18 to 5:3 on May 6, the nighttime passenger flow of 243 national-level nighttime cultural and tourism consumption agglomeration areas was 7768.6 million, with an average of 6,39 person-times per night in each agglomeration area, an increase of 2022.114% over the same period in 5. Among them, the cumulative nighttime passenger flow during the "May Day" holiday in many agglomeration areas such as Nanjing West Road, Nanjing Qinhuaihe-Fuzimiao Area, Tai'an Taishan Xiucheng, Luoyang Ancient City, Changsha Wuyi Business District, Chengdu Chunxi Road Dacifang, Nanning Third Street and Two Alleys, Xi'an City Wall Scenic Area and other agglomeration areas has exceeded 100 million person-times.
The rise of long-term travel in an all-round way boosted consumption recovery in the second quarter
According to the "Blue Book of China's Tourism Economy" released by the China Tourism Research Institute, it is expected that the tourism market will enter a new channel of expected strengthening and supply optimization in the second quarter, and the summer vacation is expected to usher in a full recovery.
Judging from the "hot" performance of this year's "May Day" holiday, the recovery of China's tourism may play an important role.
Peng Han, director of the Strategic Research Center of Ctrip Research Institute, said that the performance of this year's May Day tourism market has given China's tourism industry firm confidence and confirmed that the market is not only recovering, but has also entered an upward channel of revitalization.
Peng Han pointed out that the consumption characteristics of the "May Day" tourism market in 2023 are first reflected in the strong release of long-term travel demand. According to Ctrip's data, the flight distance of users during the May Day holiday reached a four-year peak, and the travel radius increased by 25% compared with the same period last year. Inter-provincial hotel bookings accounted for more than 9%; The number of tickets sold in domestic scenic spots increased by 2019 times year-on-year, more than 2 times higher than the "May Day" in <> before the epidemic. This is significantly different from the travel mode of consumers during the epidemic, which mainly focuses on local and peripheral travel, representing a comprehensive recovery of tourism consumer confidence.
At the same time, long-term travel will drive the prosperity and recovery of the entire industrial chain of "eating, living, traveling, shopping and entertainment" - tourism is a locomotive that "affects the whole body" for the entire offline consumption, and many industries benefit from it. The comprehensive rise of long-term travel on May Day this year will become an important driving factor for China's consumption recovery in the second quarter in various aspects such as promoting mass consumption and driving personnel employment.