Travel picks up over Tomb Sweeping break

Li Cheng, a delivery worker in Jiangsu province, returned to his hometown in Anhui province during the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday from April 3-5 for a belated reunion dinner with family.

"I want to celebrate Lunar New Year again," Li told Jiangsu News Radio. He continued to work during the Lunar New Year holiday from Feb 11-17 in Jiangsu and was one of the many who took a trip home to make up for the lost family time or visited tourist destinations over the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.

During the three-day break, domestic destinations recorded 102 million visits, a year-on-year increase of 144.6 percent, representing 94.5 percent of the pre-pandemic level, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"The fact that people are getting vaccinated and that COVID-19 has largely been brought under control in China make people feel more reassured," Luan Rongsheng, a professor at the West China School of Public Health of Sichuan University, was quoted as saying by Chinanews.com.

The China Tourism Academy estimates that domestic tourist arrivals are expected to reach 4.1 billion in 2021, an increase of 42 percent over the previous year.

Industry forecasts also show optimism for global tourism in 2021.

The World Tourism Cities Federation forecast that in 2021, tourist numbers worldwide could rebound to over 70 percent of that in 2019, China National Radio reported on Dec 29.

In January, the World Travel &Tourism Council predicted "a strong summer of travel" and a comeback for more than 100 million global travel and tourism jobs during 2021.

Some of the countries most reliant on tourism are preparing themselves for the 2021 tourist season and have released plans for reopening.

Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis said the country aims to open its doors to tourists who are vaccinated against COVID-19, have antibodies or test negative on May 14, Xinhua News Agency reported on March 10.

Thailand's resort island, Koh Samui, aims to allow quarantine-free entry to vaccinated visitors from Oct 1 in tandem with Phuket, the Bangkok Post reported on March 13.

A report published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization on March 31, however, sounded a note of caution.

It said that all world regions continued to experience large drops in tourist arrivals in the first month of the year, which could be attributed to mandatory testing, quarantines and, in some cases, the complete closure of borders.

The slower-than-expected vaccination rollout further delayed the restart of tourism, according to the UNWTO. With 32 percent of all global destinations completely closed to international tourists at the beginning of February, the UNWTO anticipates a challenging first few months of 2021 for global tourism.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said, "While much has been made in making safe international travel a possibility, we are aware that the crisis is far from over.

"The harmonization, coordination and digitalization of COVID-19 travel-related risk reduction measures, including testing, tracing and vaccination certificates, are essential foundations to promote safe travel and prepare for the recovery of tourism once conditions allow."