Millions traveled across China as the Labor Day holiday began on Saturday, gathering at tourist sites and visiting their families, while restaurants were crowded as the vast country approached a post-COVID-19 era. A transportation official stated this week that the world's second-largest economy expects around 265 million land or sea trips during the five-day holiday, figures not seen since 2019 before the virus outbreak. Hundreds of vacationers gathered along the upper section of the Great Wall of China in Badaling, approximately 60 kilometers from the capital, Beijing, with many of them not wearing masks.
Before the holiday on Friday, passengers crowded train stations nationwide, with lines stretching through busy departure halls. Although the Chinese economy has rebounded after the slowdown caused by COVID-19 last year, consumer activity has not bounced back as quickly as industrial production. However, retail sales have since recovered, jumping by 34.2% year-on-year in March, reflecting a more optimistic picture of consumer demand. Transportation official Li Huaqiang expects major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to see higher turnout during the Labor Day holiday. He added, "The number of people will basically return to the levels seen in the same period of 2019."
But Chinese authorities issued a warning ahead of the holiday, stressing the need for tourist sites to impose visitor limits and have ticketing systems in place to manage visitor flow. Travelers will also need to register their names at these sites and show their "health codes" – an electronic certification on their phones to prove they are not at risk of transmitting the virus to others. While the COVID-19 outbreak has largely been controlled in China, the emergence of new cases earlier this year led authorities to urge workers coming from towns and cities outside their own to stay home during the Lunar New Year holiday.
