The five-day May Day holiday started in China on Saturday, with domestic travel demand fully recovering after Beijing withdrew its strict "zero-COVID" policy in January.
About 120 million domestic trips are expected to be made by railway passengers in eight days through next Thursday, up 20 percent from the 2019 level, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted China State Railway Group Co. as saying.
Around 9 million air journeys are projected to be made during the holiday period, with domestic passenger capacity exceeding the level in the same period of 2019, according to China Central Television. May Day, also known as Labor Day, falls on Monday.
Starting Saturday, inbound travelers to China can take antigen tests within 48 hours of boarding instead of PCR tests and airlines no longer check pre-departure test results.
A 33-year-old Beijing woman who plans to travel to South Korea from Sunday has said she is looking forward to visiting local cafes and eating delicacies on her first overseas trip since November 2019.
