Flight tickets in high demand for China's upcoming May Day holiday

Plane ticket booking in China has hit a peak one week ahead of the May Day holiday, with travel platforms observing a surprising shift toward smaller cities as popular destinations.

Beginning on May 1, the holiday affords residents five days off of work and school, fueling a travel frenzy that reflects booming demand for recreation in the country.

Flight ticket reservations on Qunar, a popular online booking platform, have been steadily climbing since mid-April, already exceeding bookings for the same period leading up to the holiday in 2023.

"The overall search volume shows a wavelike rise in the recent month. We can see from the screen that the search volume on April 17 increased by 50 percent compared to that of March 18. In the recent week, the search volume has significantly increased. Based on the current trend, the number of bookings for the May Day holiday is expected to surpass that of last year," said Xiao Peng, a researcher for Qunar's Big Data Research Institute.

Data from several booking platforms show that medium and long-haul travels have become the primary choice for holidaymakers during the five-day break, making up 56 percent of the total orders.

"During the May Day holiday, China's civil aviation is expected to handle 10.1 million passenger trips, up 9.5 percent year on year. The main reason for the popularity of civil aviation is the continuous release of consumption demand," said Shang Kejia, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration under China's Transport Department.

Apart from traditional tourist destinations, travelers have gradually shown more interest in smaller cities or attractions featuring unique local culture and cuisines.

One of them is Xuzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province, where travelers are flocking to try popiah spring rolls and strung pork belly, as well as take in its historical sights.

"Recently, Quzhou City has opened flying routes to Xuzhou City. Therefore, I decided to travel to Xuzhou. Since the city is known for its delicacies and Han culture, we want to experience them," said Hu Zhenghao, a tourist.

In the first quarter of 2024, Xuzhou has recorded 21 million tourist arrivals, up 64 percent, with visitors from outside Xuzhou taking up more than 38 percent.

Its tourism revenue has surpassed 23 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 64 percent.

"The increasing popularity of traveling to third and fourth-tier cities is due to a rapid recovery of demand. In the future, tourism-boosted air travels will become more predominant, with the relevant products being more diversified, personalized and high-quality," said Zhan Fen, an associate research fellow at the China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology.

Flight tickets in high demand for China's upcoming May Day holiday

China has opened a new chapter of lunar exploration with the successful launch of the Chang'e-6 spacecraft on Friday.

A Long March-5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 spacecraft, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the coast of China's southern island province of Hainan at 17:27 (Beijing Time).

Approximately 37 minutes after liftoff, the Chang'e-6 spacecraft separated from the rocket and entered its planned Earth-moon transfer orbit, which had a perigee altitude of 200 kilometers and an apogee altitude of about 380,000 kilometers, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The launch of the Chang'e-6 spacecraft was a complete success, the CNSA announced.

The Chang'e-6 spacecraft, like its predecessor Chang'e-5, comprises an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner.

Regarded as one of the best open view sites, the beach at Qishui Bay in Longlou, a coastal town in Wenchang, attracted tens of thousands of people from all over the country to watch the launch.

"China is becoming more and more strong, and our technology is becoming more and more advanced," said one spectator.

"This is another exceptional, flawless launch, and I believe we have made a great start with a highly precise and accurate orbit insertion. We also wish the Chang'e-6 mission all the best," said Wang Jue, a technician at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

"The entire set of parameters for today's launch is excellent, laying a solid foundation for us. We will carry out trans-lunar injection, followed by lunar landing on the far side of the moon, sampling, takeoff from the far side of the moon, rendezvous and docking, and finally, the return from the moon to Earth," said Zhang Gao, another technician at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

China opens new chapter of lunar exploration with launch of Chang'e-6