Train travel gathers speed as May Day holiday approaches

As the first five-day holiday of the year, the May Day holiday has triggered domestic travel rush of rail tickets. Tickets for certain lines were sold out on April 15, the first day of May Day holiday tickets booking, with Beijing-Changsha, Beijing-Wuhan, Shanghai-Guangzhou, Guangzhou-Chongqing the most popular long-distance tourism lines, reported CCTV.com on Monday.

The holiday lasts from April 29 to May 3.

Data from travel portal Qunar showed that the most popular destinations from Beijing are Qingdao, Changsha, Wuhan, and Xi'an, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday. Online service platform Meituan said that train tickets on Beijing-Hong Kong and Wuhan-Changsha network were sold out for April 29, the first day of the holiday.

The Zibo city of East China's Shandong province has witnessed growing search for train tickets during the holiday, thanks to its rising fame for barbecues. The tickets from Beijing South to Zibo on the first day of the May Day holiday were sold out within 1 minute, according to Meituan.com.

Besides traditional popular destinations, many medium and small cities in China have gained popularity and are welcoming more tourists. Data from online travel platform Ctrip showed that compared with the same period in 2019, cities such as Yangzhou, Jinhua, Jining, Jiaxing, Hong Kong, Baoding, Qingdao, Kunming, Zibo and Guilin are seeing rising growth in train tickets reservation, news portal bandao.cn reported on Saturday.

According to an executive of Ctrip's train tickets department, high-speed train is a more cost-effective and convenient transportation measure for multi-destination and theme tours. With higher travel demand and the launch of special tourism lines of some places, the upcoming May Day holiday might witness the busiest travel scenario in recent years, the report said.