30/04/2020
- Outbound flights from Beijing were 15 times higher on one travel site within half an hour of Beijing relaxing quarantine requirements on the city
- The rebound in bookings spells some hope for online travel providers in China as the country emerges from a pandemic which saw widespread travel restrictions
Passengers arrive from a domestic flight at Beijing Capital Airport on March 27, 2020. Photo: AFP
Within an hour of Beijing
downgrading its emergency response level, relaxing quarantine requirements for some arrivals to the Chinese capital city, travel bookings on some sites surged up to 15 times.
Thirty minutes after the announcement on Wednesday, bookings for outbound flights from Beijing were 15 times higher than before the announcement on Qunar, one of the biggest online travel service providers in China. Searches for travel packages and hotel bookings on the platform also increased three-fold, according to a Qunar report.
On Alibaba Group Holding‘s Fliggy travel platform, bookings for flight and trains heading in and out of Beijing increased 500 per cent and 300 per cent respectively one hour after the announcement, compared to the same time a day ago, according to a Fliggy report. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Bookings for flight and train tickets in Beijing for the upcoming Labour Day long weekend also increased more than 300 per cent and 160 per cent respectively on Chinese group buying site Meituan Dianping on Wednesday after the announcement compared to the day before, while searches for the attractions in the Beijing area on the platform increased almost three times from a week ago, according to Meituan.
“The surge in searches for travel in Beijing was because the lockdown measures in the city were the strictest in the country after work resumed,” said Jiang Xinwei, senior analyst with Analysys. “Consumption among residents was suppressed [during the lockdowns], so there is now a rebound in bookings.”
China’s online travel sites prepare for surge in domestic tourism
The rebound in bookings spells some hope for online travel providers in China as the country gradually emerges from a pandemic which the Chinese government responded to by implementing strict quarantine measures, shutting down tourist attractions and suspending group tours.
Beijing-based consultancy Analysys
estimates that China’s national tourism economy lost at least 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) a day on average during the outbreak, with travel service providers like Qunar and Ctrip overloaded with millions of booking changes as well as cancellation and refund requests.
The relaxation of travel restrictions in and out of Beijing also comes ahead of a
, which starts on Friday and is the first extended public holiday after Lunar New Year in late January.
In November, the Chinese government lengthened the holiday from the original three days to five to stimulate consumption and encourage travelling amid a slowing economy weighed down by the US-China trade war.
Some cities, such as Huzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province and Kunming in southwestern province Yunnan, have issued travel vouchers to stimulate consumption for the tourist industry, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Ctrip estimated that there would be more than 86 million domestic tourists during the long weekend – more than double the number of travellers seen during the Ching Ming Festival in April, which recorded 43 million tourists, according to the China Tourism Academy.
However, Jiang said the rebound this week does not mean the Chinese travel industry is out of the red. “The travel industry will recover partially during the public holiday, but this will not be more than 60 per cent [of levels before the pandemic],” he said. “The government needs to do more to signal that travelling is safe and encourage residents to do so.”
Source: SCMP
Posted in 1,500, 15, 2020, according, after, alert, Alibaba, Alibaba Group Holding’s, Analysys, April, arrive, “mini golden week”, Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing, bookings, China, China Tourism Academy, chinese government, Ching Ming Festival, City, Country, Ctrip, domestic flight, downgrades, emergency, emerges, extended, Fliggy, Friday, half an hour, higher, Holiday, hope, Huzhou, January, Kunming, Labour Day, lengthened, level, lockdown measures, lockdowns, long weekend, lunar new year, March, Meituan Dianping, million, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, November, one, online travel providers, original, outbound flights, pandemic, passengers, per cent, public holiday, quarantine requirements, rebound, recorded, relaxing, residents, slowing economy, some sites, south china morning post, southwestern province, spells, stimulate, suppressed, surge, Times, tourists, Travel bookings, travel restrictions, travel site, travel vouchers, Uncategorized, up to, US-China trade war, weighed down, widespread, within, Yunnan, zhejiang province |
Leave a Comment »
07/07/2019
- Five thousand-year-old ruins in Zhejiang province are the earliest known example of Chinese civilisation
- Country passes Italy to become home to the largest number of World Heritage Sites
The Liangzhu site in Zhejiang dates back to 3,500BC. Photo: Thepaper.cn
A 5,300-year old Chinese city that provides the earliest example of civilisation in the country has been named as the country’s latest Unesco World Heritage Site.
The Liangzhu Archaeological Site in Zhejiang province was designated a “cultural site” at the latest Unesco meeting in Azerbaijan, bringing the total number of Chinese heritage sites to 55 – passing Italy as the country with the largest number in the world.
The ruins, located on the outskirts of the modern city of Hangzhou, sits on the plain of river networks in the basin of the Yangtze River and date back to 3,300BC.
The site covers an area of 14.3 square kilometres, and mainly consists relics of 11 dams, cemetery sites, water conservancy system and walls that gives evidence to an early Chinese urban civilisation, with rice cultivation as the economic foundation.
An aerial view of the site. Photo: Thepaper.cn
The discovery of the site was of “primary importance” as it provides evidence of compelling evidence that Chinese civilisation started 5,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, Colin Renfrew, a retired professor of archaeology at University of Cambridge, told state news agency Xinhua.
“So when we are talking of the origins of state society in China, we can think of the Liangzhu … instead of the Shang civilisation around 1,500BC.
The site was first discovered in 1936 when a team of archaeologists unearthed some pottery and began searching for further evidence
Liangzhu is China’s 55th Unesco World Heritage Site. Photo: Thepaper.cn
A breakthrough came in 1986 when a burial site with around 1,200 artefacts made from jade, pottery and ivory was uncovered.
The walls of the city were discovered in 2007 and the surrounding water conservancy system was unearthed in 2015.
Archaeologists estimate that it would have taken 4,000 people working for a decade to build the system, according to Xinhua.
The decision to add the site to the Unesco list is the culmination of more than two decades’ work, with preliminary work starting in 1994.
The site is now open to tourists, but a maximum number allowed to visit the site is limited to 3,000 a day and bookings must be made online.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Ancient Chinese city ruins, Archaeologists, Azerbaijan, bookings, burial site, cemetery sites, Chinese civilisation, dams, economic foundation, Hangzhou, Italy, Liangzhu Archaeological Site, professor of archaeology, rice cultivation, Shang civilisation, tourists, Uncategorized, unesco world heritage site, University of Cambridge, urban civilisation, walls, water conservancy system, Yangtze River, zhejiang province |
Leave a Comment »
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 