In three weeks, we will usher in the "May Day Golden Week" with a five-day holiday! How are your travel plans going? In the past Tomb-Sweeping Day, there were 102 million domestic tourists, and the domestic tourism income was 27.168 billion yuan. The upcoming May Day holiday is expected to become "the hottest golden week in history", and this trend has begun to spread slowly. According to data from Ctrip, the number of domestic inbound and outbound flights during the May Day period has increased by more than five times compared with that in 2020. Among them, Sanya, Xi ‘an, Chongqing and Chengdu, as popular destinations, are unprecedented in popularity, with the number of inbound flights increasing by 1000%, 779%, 665% and 550% respectively.
On the other hand, through the observation of Ctrip data, it is found that Macao, as the only safe destination for outbound travel at present, its popularity continues to rise, and it is expected to become a destination dark horse in the upcoming Golden Week. The data shows that as of April 8, the total number of orders for Macao tourism products booked through Ctrip platform during the May Day period has achieved a positive growth of 20% compared with 2019, which is twice as much as that in the same period in April.
The price of flights to Australia on May 1 rose sharply, and the number of air ticket searches increased by 140% from the previous month.
In terms of transportation mode, at present, the main way for consumers to travel to and from Macao is customs clearance at land ports. However, in the state of continuous and stable epidemic, mainland flights to and from Macao have resumed one after another, and direct flights have been opened in many major cities across the country.
The data shows that the search volume of inbound and outbound flights in Macao during the May Day period greatly exceeded 140% in the same period in April, and more and more consumers began to choose to fly in and out of Macao. Among them, Beijing-Macau, Qingdao-Macau, Wuhan-Macau, Tianjin-Macau, Changzhou-Macau, Shanghai-Macau, Ningbo-Macau, Chengdu-Macau, Hangzhou-Macau and Chongqing-Macau are the top 10 most searched inbound routes in Macau.
In this regard, Xiu Tianyang, an analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, said: "The increase in search popularity means that consumers have a strong willingness to travel. It is expected that there will be a booking peak in the next two weeks, and the ticket price will increase substantially. If you have a clear travel plan, you can purchase tickets as soon as possible."
Indeed, the ticket prices of inbound and outbound flights in Macao are rising at a speed visible to the naked eye. During the May Day period, the average ticket price of economy class increased by over 50% compared with that in April.
In order to further meet the travel needs of consumers, Ctrip currently launched the activity of "Starting from Macau, Buy 1 Get 1 Free Air Ticket in Macau". This activity is applicable to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Changzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, Nanning and other major cities in China.
Compared with 2019, the number of hotel reservations in Macau on May 1 has doubled.
In terms of hotels, the hot trend of "hotel vacation" is also applicable to Macao. Although there are still three weeks before the May Day holiday, the number of orders for booking hotels in Macau through Ctrip has doubled compared with the same period in 2019. Some rooms of many high-star hotels, such as Parisian Macao, Venetian Macao and Sheraton Macao Hotel, have been sold out.
In addition, the price of Gaoxing Hotel has also increased significantly compared with the past, which is about 30% higher than that of Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Parisians in Macau, Sheraton Macau Hotel, Lisboa Macau Hotel, JW Marriott Macau, Sofitel Liupu Macau, Rui J Hotel Macau, Liting Seaview Macau, MGM Macau, Venetian Macau and Yachen Macau are the TOP10 popular hotels in Macau during the May Day holiday this year.
Among the tourist destinations, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Tianjin and Chengdu are the top ten tourist destinations for the May Day holiday. Obviously, consumers from the Pearl River Delta region have become the main force of Macao tour.
In the user portrait, female users are 7% higher than male users, and after 80 and 90, they are still the main force of travel, with user orders accounting for 40% respectively.
Macau or Cheng Wuyi Golden Week dark horse destination, egg tarts become search keywords.
What do young people do when they visit Macao? In the local play search, Macao Fisherman’s Wharf, Macau Tower, Shadow Star 8-character Ferris Wheel, Macau Teamlab Supernatural Space, Love Lane, Dragon Ring Puyun Residential Museum are warmly sought after; Rua do Cunha, St. Paul’s archway, church, iron tower, architecture, afternoon tea and egg tart became the key words in the search bar.
At present, there have been no reports of local cases (including asymptomatic infected persons) in Macao for more than one year. Passengers can go with peace of mind with valid nucleic acid reports and valid endorsement documents within 7 days, and there is no need to isolate them from each other. In order to ensure the safety of travel, all walks of life in Macao strictly implement prevention and control measures to create a safe play environment.
It is worth mentioning that this year is the second May Day holiday after China entered the stage of normalized epidemic prevention and control. As the domestic epidemic situation continues to show a steady and positive trend, the "May 1" tourism market in 2021 will also accelerate the pace of recovery. It is predicted that during the "May 1 Golden Week" this year, local tourism and Zhou Bianyou market will still maintain a strong growth momentum, while inter-provincial tourism and long-distance tourism will usher in a real outbreak.
In this regard, Xiu Tianyang, an analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, believes that behind the continuous improvement of Macao’s heat is the current consumer’s expectation for restarting the country. With the official launch of the China version of "International Travel Health Certificate" and the agreement on mutual recognition of health codes with other countries in the world, the tourism industry is also looking forward to welcoming the resumption of the international travel market under the guidance of relevant state departments.
Written by Southern Reporter Xu Kun