Millions On The Move As Mainland Eyes Holiday Bounce

Hundreds of millions on the mainland hustled to enjoy their first major national holiday since the country beat its coronavirus outbreak, filling airports and train stations on Thursday.

The Golden Week holiday marks the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and sees an astonishing annual movement of people trying to get home or take holidays.

But this year has added significance, with the crowds filling the concourses pointing to a country rebounding from the outbreak and parading the freedom to travel as a contrast to the rolling lockdowns hitting much of the world.

"Normally, we would take a family holiday abroad during the Golden Week, but this year we opted for a staycation instead," said Niu Honglin from Shanghai.

Niu booked rooms in a boutique hotel near Shanghai Disneyland but quickly encountered the problem of millions of extra tourists hunting fun at home.

"My daughter had to wait in line for nearly three hours to get on a ride," she said.

Domestic travel has sprung back to life and given the economy a boost after the virus shuttered businesses and scared away tourists following its emergence in Wuhan late last year.

"The Chinese economy has shown strong resilience," Premier Li Keqiang told parliament on Wednesday.

Wuhan is back in business too, with visitors thronging to the Yellow Crane Tower – a Taoist shrine – according to the country's biggest travel agency Ctrip.

More than 600 million trips will be taken during the holiday, down 20 percent from a year ago, Ctrip estimated, but they will still force the state railway to lay on an 1,000 extra trains a day.

Around 108 million passengers will take trains during the eight-day holidays – around 13.5 million a day.

Many will take luxury holidays at home, travel operator Quanar said, amid global travel restrictions.

At Beijing's Capital Airport – whose check-in rows and aisles were empty in February – thousands of passengers queued up with their luggage and children in tow.

Life in the Chinese capital has gradually returned to normal after ghostly scenes of empty roads in January and February, and a second virus outbreak in June.

The once eerily empty streets in the city's financial district are packed, previously deserted malls are full of shoppers and ice rinks have filled with children learning to skate again. (AFP)