BEIJING — Millions of travelers crisscrossed China as the
Labor Day holiday got underway Saturday, packing out tourist sites, thronging
restaurants and visiting family as the vast country edges towards life after
COVID-19.
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The world’s second largest economy is expecting some 265
million journeys by road, train or boat during the five-day holiday, a
transport ministry official said this week — numbers last seen in 2019 before
the pandemic struck.
Hundreds of day trippers packed out the walkway along the
top of the Great Wall at Badaling, some 60km from downtown
Beijing, with many
not wearing masks.
Ahead of the holiday on Friday, passengers thronged train
stations across the country, with queues stretching across crowded departure
halls.
Although China’s economy has bounced back from the
pandemic-induced slowdown of last year, consumer activity has lagged behind the
stronger rebound seen in the industrial production.
But retail sales have since picked up, surging 34.2 percent
on-year in March and painting a more optimistic picture of consumption demand.
Key cities such as capital city Beijing, as well as Shanghai
and
Guangzhou, are expected to see greater demand this Labor Day holiday, said
the transport official Li Huaqiang.
“The number of people would have basically returned to
levels seen in the same period in 2019,” he added.
But Chinese authorities sounded a cautious note ahead of the
break, warning that tourist attractions should impose restrictions on visitor
numbers and have ticketing systems to control the flow of people.
Travelers will also need to register at attractions and show
their “health codes” — an electronic certificate on their phones to prove they
are not at risk of infecting others.
While the COVID-19 outbreak has been largely brought under
control in China, fresh outbreaks at the start of the year prompted authorities
to urge migrant workers to stay home over the Lunar New Year.
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