BEIJING: With the eight-day Spring Festival holiday drawing to an end, some tourists to South China’s Hainan province are discovering their return journeys are more expensive than they expected. Many tourists have complained on social media that the prices for flights leaving the province have surged to unbearable highs, China Radio International reported on Thursday.
Several airlines have said their economy-class tickets for the last three days of the holiday, from Thursday to Saturday, had almost sold out, and that there were limited seats still available in business class.
While not an issue for those that have already booked their return journeys, the tourists yet to book their flights have been left with some tough choices. “When I came to Sanya, the air ticket cost me only about 1,000 yuan ($139). But now, to my great surprise, I have to spend more than 10,000 yuan for a return ticket,” said tourist Juan’er in a post online.
“Such an expense is enough to cover a journey to Europe, so I decided to book an earlier ticket,” a tourist surnamed Zhou from Beijing told thecover.cn, a news outlet based in Sichuan province. Hainan’s tourism and transportation authorities said the rush of tourists returning home from the island will continue until Monday next week. According to multiple agents selling tickets for flights departing Hainan, the prices remain high until Saturday, the last day of the holiday. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
