Chinese tourists made around 230 million trips over the country’s Labour Day holiday from May 1 to 5. This marks a year-on-year rise of 119.7 percent, and also represents 3.2 percent growth from pre-pandemic levels, according to official estimates.

The country’s biggest online travel platforms recorded 30 percent more bookings for this year’s holiday period than in 2019, before the pandemic severely impacted travel over last year’s Labour Day holiday. Lan Xiang, online travel agency Qunar’s director of big data, told China Daily this year’s tourism market was exceeding even the optimistic forecasts of industry insiders.

Domestic tourism-related revenue over the break of 113.23 billion yuan ($17.5 billion) was up 138.1 percent year-on-year, but this only represents 77 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

Tropical island Hainan remains a favourite destination for travelling shoppers. According to Haikou’s official customs statistics, duty-free retail revenue topped 993 million yuan ($153.34 million) over the holiday, up 248 percent compared to the same period last year.