Goodbye Covid: tourists mob China’s most popular attractions during Labor Day
From the Great Wall to Shanghai’s waterfront Bund, China’s most famous destinations are being mobbed during the Labor Day holiday by throngs of domestic tourists who are traveling again in huge numbers after the country ended three years of strict pandemic controls.
More than 240 million holidaymakers are expected to travel within or outside China’s mainland during the five-day break that began on Saturday, state media CCTV reported Monday, an increase of more than 20% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Beijing received nearly 2 million tourists on the first day of the holiday, double the number from last year, according to the Beijing Cultural and Tourism Department.
In Shanghai, over 7 million tourists arrived in the city for the weekend, according to Shanghai Travel Data. Tickets to Shanghai Disneyland have been sold out until May 3, its website showed.
Police in the city of Xi’an, home to the terracotta warriors, have warned tourists to stay away from a busy shopping street sandwiched between two popular heritage sites.
On Saturday, China Railway logged a record 19.7 million railway trips with a predicted figure on Sunday of 18 million trips.
The sheer size of the crowds traveling across the nation has baffled some citizens.
“Why are there so many people? I can’t even get McDonald’s,” one internet user wrote on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
Also known as the May Day holiday, the Labor Day break is one of three major annual holidays in China. The boom in tourism is likely to boost the Chinese economy.
Growth got off to a solid start in 2023, with the economy expanding by 4.5% in the first quarter, as consumers went on a spending spree that is continuing with the current holiday.
Mysterious cancelations
Chinese travel booking website Trip.com reported domestic bookings alone had risen by 700% compared to last year, when many restaurants and retailers were shut and travel was complicated due to the pandemic.
Accommodation was selling out this year weeks ahead of the holiday, pushing up prices, according to state media.
And there have been complaints of scalping.
Due to the high demand, according to state media, many Chinese tourists who had booked their accommodations early at low prices were later told to cancel their reservations, forcing them to have to book again at higher prices.
A wide range of excuses was given, they reported, with internet users taking to popular Chinese social media sites such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu to complain about their plight.
One user said on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like app, that she booked a place in Tianjin, a coastal city in northern China, for 1,777 yuan ($257) for five days.
Not long after she saw online that the price had soared by almost double, she was told by the owner that her booking had been canceled because of a Covid outbreak.
“But later that night, I went on to Meituan to check,” she wrote, referring to a online booking platform. “The place is still available.”
The situation has prompted state media and provincial law enforcement authorities to issue warnings on Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter in China.
“The unscrupulous practice of these bed-and-breakfasts is ugly,” said an opinion piece posted on the social media platform by state media People’s Daily.
生词记录
mob 暴民，乱民；（人群）围住，围聚
waterfront （城镇的）滨水区，水边地
bund 堤岸，码头
throng 人群，群众
pandemic 流行病；大规模流行的，广泛蔓延的
terracotta 赤褐色，土红色；赤陶土
warrior 勇士，武士
terracotta warrior 兵马俑
sandwich 夹住，把···插入（两者之间）
heritage 遗产
log 行驶；记录
sheer 完全的；陡峭的
baffle 使困惑，使迷惑
boom 增长，迅速发展；繁荣，增长期
boost 改善，提高，促进
get off to a good start 开门红，好的开端
spree 玩乐，纵乐
accommodation 住处，工作场所，停留处
scalp 头皮；手下败将；倒卖（戏票等）
plight 困境，窘境
unscrupulous 不讲道德的，不择手段的，无耻的，不诚实的
bed and breakfast （私人住宅或小旅馆提供的）住宿和早餐
个人感悟
三年疫情令很多人都憋得太久了，难得有一个小长假，自然疯狂起来。旅游的人疯了，各景点门票、酒店、饭店等价格就更加疯了。大家有钱的都去旅行，贫穷的我在家刷朋友圈也算去玩过了😄
