Summer travel reaches new highs

Travel demand of Chinese people has kept on rising in this summer, which can be attributed to the combination of family-visit, tourism and student passenger flows. Considering the upcoming Mid-Autumn and National Holidays, as well as the boost of the supply-side and policies, experts are optimistic about the tourism economy in the second half of the year.

Data from China Railway showed that China's railways carried 406 million passengers from July 1 to 31. The national railway has operated 10,169 passenger trains per day since the start of summer holiday rush, an increase of 14.2 percent over the same period in 2019, according to a report of China Securities Journal on Tuesday.

The actual number of passenger flights operated on domestic routes was 430,000 in July, a rise of 12 percent on a yearly and monthly basis, said aviation data and solution service provider VariFlight. It also said the actual number of passenger flights operated on international and regional routes was 40,000, recovering to 48 percent of the same period in 2019, an increase of 18.87 percent from June.

This summer vacation would become the busiest one during the past five years, according to a prediction of China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism). It estimates that from June to August, the number of domestic tourists will reach 1.854 billion, accounting for 28.11 percent of the whole year number. Domestic tourism revenue will reach 1.2 trillion yuan ($166.49 billion), accounting for 27.46 percent of the annual revenue.

The proportion of student visitors will reach 33 percent in the summer of 2023, exceeding the level of the same period in 2019, said a report released by travel portal LY.com.

Parent-child travel has boosted the consumption, as Qunar's big data academy estimates that 2 million children in China would get their "first air ticket in life" this summer. For those traveling with children, 41 percent would choose middle and high-end hotels, higher than the average of 30 percent.

Study-tour is also favored by students and parents during summer holiday. According to a recent report from industry research company ChinaIRN.com, the total market size of study-tour will exceed 100 billion yuan in the next 3 to 5 years.

A report released by the China Tourism Academy at the end of July shows that the total number of tourist trips in the country is expected to reach 5.5 billion this year, with domestic tourism income reaching 5 trillion yuan, recovering to 90 percent and 80 percent of the same period in 2019, respectively.

China announced a raft of measures on July 31 to boost consumption, include promoting more paid-leave and off-peak vacations to spur holiday consumption and expand cultural and tourism consumption.

Miao Muyang, director-general of the department of industrial development in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, also said the ministry will study and formulate a raft of policy measures to further unleash the potential of tourism consumption.