May Day travelers mostly sticking to own provinces

Short-distance trips within travelers' own provinces has become a popular choice for the upcoming May Day holiday, which will begin on April 30 and last through May 4, National Business Daily reported citing a report from online travel agency Ctrip.

As of April 25, about 52 percent of tourism bookings for the holiday made through Ctrip were within the users' own provinces. In Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, this figure is close to 80 percent.

Compared with Tomb Sweeping Day, searches for major city clusters such as the Pearl River Delta and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone surged by 89 and 45 percent.

Rural tourism is gaining popularity among Chinese tourists, and related hotel bookings saw an increase of 560 percent.

Going camping close to home has also become a favored leisure activity. Data showed in April camping-related searches doubled from the previous month, and bookings for camping products increased five times compared with the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.

In the first quarter of 2022, domestic tourism revenue reached 770 billion yuan ($118 billion), up 30 billion yuan or 4 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.