BEIJING: This New Year holiday, which lasted from December 31 to January 2, was the first holiday since China optimized its COVID-19 control measures in early December last year. As a large number of people had already recovered from COVID-19 infection, they chose to travel during the holiday.
In Sanya, a coastal city in the island province of Hainan renowned for its beach resorts, tourists spent their holiday swimming, eating seafood, sunbathing and visiting scenic spots.
A tourist from Beijing, surnamed Wang, told China News Service that his family had recovered from COVID-19 and was enjoying the holiday in the coastal city. He said he would fly back to Beijing after the holiday but other family members would stay there for the remainder of winter.
Xu Xiangyu, a senior director of the marketing and public relations department of Atlantis Sanya, China’s first Atlantis resort, said, “From the reservations we have received, we can see that people’s enthusiasm for traveling has been recovering and keeps increasing.” He continued that the occupation rate of the hotel was nearly 90 percent at the end of December 2022 and reservations for hotel rooms for the Spring Festival holiday, which will stretch from January 21 to 27, are also rising. He said the tourism market in Sanya is expected to experience a new boom by this upcoming holiday.
Long queues are common during peak tourist season. During the New Year holiday in Sanya, tourists needed to queue to check in at hotels and to shop at the Sanya International Duty-Free Shopping Complex, and cars were lining up to enter the parking lots of scenic spots.
–The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news excahnge item
