Tourism enters peak season as summer vacation arrives in China

Tourists have fun at "Nanji" Village of Jiaowei Township of Xuwen County, Zhanjiang City, south China's Guangdong Province, May 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

The summer vacation is a peak travel season in China. In the week following the end of the college entrance exam, the first travel peak during the graduation season emerged. From June 9 to 12, flight bookings made by people aged between 17 and 19 increased three times over the previous week on qunar.com, an online travel service provider.

Statistics from many online travel platforms and travel agencies indicated that inquiries, search volume and bookings for travel products during the summer vacation have continued to surge. To meet the rising demand, many tourism destinations and travel agencies have launched promotions.

On May 18, online travel platform Fliggy kicked off its mid-year promotion activity. On that day, hotel bookings saw a year-on-year increase of over 98 percent. Fliggy has worked with airlines, car rental companies, hotels and resorts to launch products and services which can provide more consumer guarantees, are more cost-effective and can be stored for later use.

As of June 12, Fliggy had sold more than 1 million products during the mid-year promotion activity. Over 200,000 air tickets, including one-way and round trip tickets, had been sold, and more than 700,000 domestic hotel packages had been purchased.

"The high season for booking travel products this year has come much earlier than last year. The mid-year promotion season is an important period for people to store travel products for the summer vacation," said Cheng Chen, who is in charge of Fliggy's mid-year promotion activity.

As temperatures rise, the Duku Highway, which is hailed as "the most beautiful highway in China," will reopen. Many travel agencies have launched products linked to the route.

"I'm looking forward to a road trip along the route which offers views of high mountains and valleys, grasslands and snow-covered mountains," said a tourist named An Xiaoping from north China's Tianjin municipality.

The summer vacation is a busy season for parent-child tours and study tours. The Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism in southwest China's Sichuan Province recently released travel routes under the theme of novelty, study tours and rural tourism. Many service providers in the province have launched such products as summer camps and parent-child study trips to try to attract tourists.

Many travel products take the summer heat into consideration.

With an average altitude of 1,100 meters and an average summer temperature of 23 degrees Celsius, southwest China's Guizhou Province is one of the coolest places among those located along the same latitude, and about three-fourths of places in the province can become destinations for avoiding the summer heat. Guiyang, Liupanshui, Bijie, Anshun and Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture are ideal places to avoid the summer heat in Guizhou.

This summer, Guizhou has launched favorable policies to attract tourists. Between June 16 and August 31, students from middle schools, primary schools and universities, children aged 6 years old or younger, and people aged 60 years old or older are exempt from paying any entrance fee at state-owned A-level scenic areas in the province by showing cards that can prove their identity.