People in China are flocking to sites across the country in large numbers as the authorities look to boost the domestic tourism industry in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the authorities had urged people not to make unnecessary journeys during the Lunar New Year holiday because of an outbreak in the north of the country, there are no such concerns over the five-day Labour Day holiday that started on Saturday.
One tourism analyst predicted that there would be an “explosive” rise in demand, possibly exceeding the pre-pandemic total.
Some of Beijing’s most popular sites, such as the Forbidden City and Great Wall, were predictably busy, with tickets for the Imperial Palace Museum sold out until Thursday.
But demand for lesser-known attractions was also running high with scalpers quick to cash in on demand.
For example, tickets to visit Prince Gong’s Mansion – a 18th-century palace in the heart of the capital – sold out four days in a row and were being resold at almost four times their face value, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.
Police have also stepped in to try to stop the practice, detaining four people on Monday.
People’s Daily reported that some sites were cashing in on a new trend by offering visitors themed ice creams shaped to resemble historic artefacts or buildings.
Meanwhile, moviegoers flocked to cinemas as a dozen new films hit the screens, bringing the nationwide box office figure to more than 1.5 billion yuan (US$232 million) as of Wednesday morning, the fifth day of the holiday, on a par with the 1.5 billion yuan taken over four days in 2019.
Chinese authorities had been expecting strong demand across this year’s five-day holiday period as domestic Covid-19 controls eased and foreign travel remained largely off limits.