'Rebound' consumption boom? Perhaps, not quite yet

With outbound travel still not an option for now, deep-pocketed tourists are going after high-end domestic leisure products, said Li Xuepeng, Trip.com's marketing head for short-distance travel.

Another crucial demand is for high hygiene standards, offering travel companies a golden opportunity for offering high-quality options.

"To stimulate travel and consumption after the coronavirus outbreak, many parks, hotels and travel service providers are promoting discount products, with prices hitting 10-year lows," Li said.

About 50 municipal governments have issued coupons to stimulate consumption.

Li said that April and May, especially the Labor Day break, are the best times to offer the best bargains. However, he reminded business operators to restrict bookings to within their capacity as "consumers' experience can't be discounted."

For example, scenic Huangshan mountain in Anhui province, famed for its pine trees and granite peaks, drew 20,000 visitors one morning in early April, forcing one of the country's top tourist attractions to close temporarily, after the local government waived the 190 yuan (US$27) admission price for two weeks.

The strong growth in travel bookings reflects the public's thirst to venture out after being confined to their homes in the past two months, but it is still on the road to recovery. Daily domestic tourism revenue nationwide from May 1-5 was still far from last year's record, though it almost quadrupled from April's Qingming holiday, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

On the catering side, orders placed online continued to be a primary channel for most food-and-beverage establishments, as many of them are pinning their hopes on online platforms for long-term investment.

In Shenzhen, the spacious, modern stores of milk-tea maker Nayuki used to be popular gathering spots for the younger crowd, but since the coronavirus outbreak, online orders have become the norm, registering a 127 percent surge in orders amid the health crisis.