Golden Week Sends Millions of Chinese on the Move Since Covid-19 Outbreak

BEIJING, KOMPAS.com – China’s Golden Week national holiday sent millions of residents filling airports and train stations since the country beat the coronavirus outbreak.

Golden Week refers to the country’s holiday marking the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

An impressive number of people in China typically find themselves trying to get home or take holidays during this annual holiday period.

But this year has added significance, with the crowds filling the concourses pointing to a country rebounding from the coronavirus outbreak and parading the freedom to travel as a contrast to the rolling lockdowns hitting much of the world.

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"Normally, we would take a family holiday abroad... but this year we opted for a staycation instead," said Niu Honglin from Shanghai.

Niu booked rooms in a boutique hotel near Shanghai Disneyland but quickly encountered the problem of millions of extra tourists hunting fun at home.

"My daughter had to wait in line for nearly three hours to get on a ride," she said.

Domestic travel has sprung back to life and given the economy a boost after the virus shuttered businesses and scared away tourists following its emergence in Wuhan late last year.

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"People are traveling with a vengeance!" said Huo Binxing, a banker from Beijing who is heading to Lhasa in Tibet.

"It's our first chance to unwind after such a stressful period."

Wuhan in central China is back in business too, with visitors thronging to the Yellow Crane Tower — a Taoist shrine — according to the country's biggest travel agency Ctrip.

But some have scrapped plans as the virus continues to seed anxiety.

Ming Rui, a fashion designer in Beijing, said she canceled a visit to the coastal city Qingdao after two coronavirus cases were reported there last week.

"It was our first family trip this year, but we canceled because I got very nervous," Ming said, adding her parents are in their seventies.

Much-needed spending

More than 600 million trips will be taken during Golden Week, down 20 percent from a year ago, Ctrip estimated, but they will still force the state railway to lay on 1,000 extra trains a day.

Around 108 million passengers will take trains during the eight-day holidays — around 13.5 million a day.

They are likely to bring much-needed spending to far-flung parts of China — last year, travelers spent $9.5 billion during the Golden Week.

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Many will take luxury holidays at home, travel operator Quanar said, amid global travel restrictions.

But the absence of their tourist dollars this year will leave regional nations — from Thailand to Cambodia — wincing from the economic pain caused by the prolonged closure of borders.

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At Beijing's Capital Airport — whose check-in rows and aisles were empty in February — thousands of passengers queued up with their luggage and children in tow.

Life in the Chinese capital has gradually returned to normal after ghostly scenes of empty roads in January and February, and a second virus coronavirus outbreak in June.

The once eerily empty streets in the city's financial district are packed, previously deserted malls are full of shoppers and ice rinks have filled with children learning to skate again.

Chinese retail sales edged back to growth in August for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck, signaling a rebound for the world's second-largest economy. 

(Writer: Nicolas Asfouri)

Source: http://u.afp.com/3zoG