The year tourism was saved from the brink

Cross-provincial tourism

Travel agencies were given permission by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on July 14 to resume group tours that crossed provincial borders, following suspension due to the pandemic. The limit on visitor numbers allowed in tourist attractions was also increased from 30 to 50 percent of maximum capacity. Less than an hour after the restriction was lifted, the number of searches for trans-provincial group tours on online travel agency Qunar jumped nearly 400 percent. Another online travel agency, Trip.com, saw searches on its own site surge to about 500 percent.

Macao

More than 227,000 inbound tourists－88 percent of whom came from the Chinese mainland－visited the region in August, according to the Macao Special Administrative Region's Statistics and Census Service. From Sept 23, all domestic tourists from low-risk regions can apply for tourist endorsement to visit Macao. In September, the SAR government prepared coupons worth $36.3 million for mainland tourists to use in hotels and various shops.

Fliggy subsidies

Alibaba's online travel arm, Fliggy, initiated a 10 million yuan subsidy program in early September. The program covered tens of thousands of hotels across the country, as well as transportation and access to scenic spots and theme parks. During the second week of September, hotel bookings for the National Day holiday surged by 190 percent from the previous week, and air ticket sales increased by 160 percent.