Travel searches soar in wake of new COVID-19 measures

The search volume for plane tickets on travel platform Ctrip immediately surged by 160 percent following the release of the adjusted COVID-19 measures released by the authorities on Wednesday.

In particular, searches for flight tickets from the 25th day of the last lunar month to Chinese New Year's Eve soared to the highest level in three years.

According to the new measures released by the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, COVID testing and health code requirements no longer apply to domestic travelers.

The new measures state that testing and health codes will only be needed for special locations such as nursing homes, welfare homes, medical institutions, and primary and secondary schools.

Before the release of the 10 measures, some provinces and cities in China had already been taking steps to relax restrictions. For example, Sanya of Hainan province has seen a spike in the number of hotel and flight bookings after local authorities announced new optimized health management measures for travelers.