China’s Tourism Spending Rebounds during the Labor Day Holiday, but Is Still 60% Lower Than Last Year.

Online sales across all e-commerce platforms saw 36.3% year-over-year growth during the Labor Day holiday, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. However, compared to the 2019 May Day holiday—which lasted for four days—this year saw a 40% decrease in the number of domestic trips made, from 195 million last year. Tourism revenue was down 60% from ($9.9 billion) in 2019.

With the holiday falling after the Covid-19 outbreak in China, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism highlighted the adoption of “intelligent travel” technology in popular tourist sites. These sites were required to track guest capacity using mobile technology in order to limit crowds and thus reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

Tourism industries in Western countries could develop technologies to implement similar measures in coping with large gatherings when tourism resumes, such as tracking guest capacity at major social sites.