China's tourism revenue came in at 60% of pre-Covid levels this holiday weekend
BEIJING — China's tourism sector ended yet another public holiday with revenue well below what it was before the pandemic hit.
National tourism revenue for the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival reached 28.68 billion yuan ($4.16 billion) — just 60.6% of the 2019 pre-pandemic levels, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said late Monday. The figure also marked a 22.8% decline from last year.
Tourist trips of 73.4 million were nearly 17% below last year's figure, and had only recovered to 72.6% of 2019 levels, the ministry said.
The tourism figures dropped more than they did during the last public holiday in early June, pointed out Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura.
«The worsening business activity was mainly due to the tightened Covid control measures, as individuals have been advised to stay local and avoid unnecessary trips during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday (1-7 October),» he said in a report dated Monday. China's next public holiday will be in October.
Chinese tourism has slumped since the pandemic hit in early 2020. Domestic tourism revenue for all of last year was about half of what it was in 2019, according to the tourism ministry.
This year, figures for the first six months showed a drop of about 28% from the same period in 2021. And since Shanghai's two-month lockdown ended in June, China has battled outbreaks across the country, including in the resort island of Hainan.
The Mid-Autumn Festival this year officially landed on Saturday, with the public holiday running through Monday.
Even if people didn't travel far, they weren't inclined to go to movie theaters. The long-weekend box office came in at 370 million yuan ($53.44 million), the lowest since 2017, according to data from movie
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