By XUE Bingbing
More than 19 million people took the train home on Wednesday as the end of the busiest ever May Day holiday drew near. A total of 13,926 flights took off on the day.
Data from online travel agencies showed just how “hot” the holiday was. Trip.com's data shows that users flew farther than in the past four years. The number of outbound travel bookings increased nearly 7 times year on year.
Hotel bookings outside travelers home provinces accounted for more than 70 percent of booking.
Tourist attraction ticket sales were 9 times higher than the same period last year.
Bookings during the May Day holiday doubled compared with Spring Festival, setting a record high. Domestic ticket sales, hotel bookings and train ticket bookings were all double Spring Festival levels.
Outbound travel is recovering with Thailand the most popular destination. China Eastern Airlines said flights to Phuket during the holiday were all fully booked.