China saw nearly 10 million passenger flights during the five-day May Day holiday ending Sunday, according to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
During the holiday, the country's aviation sector saw a total of 9.971 million passenger trips, an average of 1.994 million per day, marking an increase of 11.1 percent over the May Day holiday in 2019.
The holiday period saw a total of 85,986 flights, which averaged 17,197 flights per day, a 7.4-percent increase in daily average flights compared to the 2019 May Day holiday.
Online booking platform data revealed a significant increase in international flight ticket bookings during the holiday.
On the first day of the holiday, the volume of international flight ticket bookings reached a new single-day high, surpassing previous records.
Compared to 2019, there was a 20-percent increase in bookings for international flights. The number of ticket bookings for nearly a hundred outbound destinations exceeded the levels seen in 2019.
Overall, the Middle East and Europe emerged as popular overseas travel destinations during this year's May Day holiday. Factors such as visa-free policies implemented by Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore for Chinese tourists, as well as the depreciation of the Japanese yen, contributed to the popularity of related air routes during the holiday period.
Meanwhile, there was strong enthusiasm among the public for traveling to third and fourth-tier cities with "small airports." The booking volume for flights to domestic regional airports increased by over 30 percent compared to the same period last year.
The ticket booking volume for popular regional airports including Yichun Lindu Airport in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province and Guoluo Maqin Airport in northwest China’s Qinghai Province saw a growth rate of over 100 percent.
China's passenger flights during Labor Day Holiday eclipse 2019 level
The depreciation of Japanese yen has caused an old coffee shop in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture of Japan to suffer rising financial strain due to surging import costs.
The coffee shop, with a 50-year history, is facing fund squeeze. The owner, 82-year-olld Hajime Yoneyama said that the depreciation has led to increased prices for imported raw materials, particularly coffee beans sourced mainly from Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia, resulting in a 20 percent surge in purchase costs.
"The purchase price (of coffee beans) has increased by 20 percent. I feel that the prices of vegetables and oil have also increased by at least 20 percent. Now the prices of these things continue to rise, with no sign of stopping. The expenditure situation of the store may become more severe in the future," said him.
Yoneyama said that he had to raise the prices to sustain the coffee shop's operation.
"Recently we had to raise the price. Previously, a cup of coffee cost 500 yen. It's no longer sustainable (without price increases) and now it's up to 600 yen," said the owner.
Furthermore, in an effort to cut costs, the elderly Yoneyama works with just one employee, yet the store business kept crippling. He said that a significant portion of his pension funds is used to cover store expenses and employee wages.
Locals worry that if the weak yen trend persists, the pressure on livelihoods will further intensify.
"The prices of everything are increasing, food, drink, vegetables. It would be great if there was a solution. Medical supplies are also an issue that needs to be considered. I do worry about what the future will bring," said a local resident.
"Not only are labor costs rising, but gas costs are also rising, so operators need to cut expenses, such as advertising expenses, and the work that they originally paid to hire people to do may now be borne entirely by the operators themselves," said another resident.
Japan’s time-honored coffee shop face fund squeeze due to weakening yen
