Chinese tourists opting for short trips over upcoming Dragon Boat Festival

Statistics provided by Chinese online travel agencies showed that Chinese tourists prefer medium- and short-distance trips to long-distance ones for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on June 14.

This year, Chinese people will have a three-day holiday for the festival, starting June 12. “Nearly 50 percent of our clients have booked travel routes with a distance of no longer than 300 kilometers,” said Fang Zexi, an industry analyst with Ctrip Research Institute, who estimated that about 100 million trips will be made during the holiday.

Photo taken on June 27, 2020 shows tourists experiencing surfing in Tenghai village of Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

Data from Ctrip also indicated that over 60 percent of tourists prefer to travel within their own provinces, which means that they will arrive at their destinations in three to six hours.

This change has led to a higher demand for train travel. Statistics showed that train tickets from Beijing to some of the most popular destinations on June 12, including Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province, Jinan in east China’s Shandong province and Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, sold out quickly upon release.

Additionally, high-end resort hotels in the surrounding parts of some first-tier and second-tier cities have seen a surge in inquiries and reservations, according to a report by Lvmama.com, a Shanghai-based online travel agency.

These hotels also include boutique and homestay hotels at the periphery of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and Huzhou in east China, Chengdu and Chongqing in southwest China and Beijing, with hotels there seeing an influx of orders, despite a rise in price.

Ctrip revealed that some of the more popular tourist attractions included Nanjing Maya Beach Water Park in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, Hangzhou Crazy Apple Land in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Pingxiang Wugong Mountain Scenic Area in Pingxing city, Jiangxi province and Nantong Forest Safari Park in Nantong, Jiangsu province.