Domestic flight bookings double as summer travel rush begins

Domestic flight bookings for summer travel season have more than doubled from a week earlier, helped by lower airfares, rising family travel demand, and growing interest in smaller destinations, according to online travel platform Qunar.

Summer travel season officially began on Wednesday. Bookings for summer flights rose 120 percent week-on-week over the past seven days, while the first travel peak of the summer travel season is expected this weekend, starting on July 4, according to Qunar data.

Airfares have fallen as airlines added capacity for the summer travel rush while schools in many parts of China begin their holidays later than usual this year, creating a temporary mismatch between supply and demand, the company said.

Average domestic airfares for departures between July 1 and July 7 were nearly 20 percent lower than a year earlier, Qunar said, with some popular routes costing less than high-speed rail tickets. It said early July and the final week of August were likely to offer the lowest fares during the summer travel season.

"Airlines have already begun operating additional summer flights from the start of July, but passenger demand has yet to fully materialize because many primary and secondary schools will not begin their holidays until around July 10," Yang Han, researcher at Qunar's big data research institute, said.

"As a result, flight capacity remains high while passenger volumes are relatively low, pushing ticket prices below last year's levels. We expect this year's summer travel peak to arrive later, but gather stronger momentum."

Family travel continues to dominate the market, accounting for 45 percent of summer bookings, while travelers aged 19 to 22 recorded the fastest growth in flight reservations, Qunar said.

Demand for travel to smaller cities also accelerated. Bookings by first-time flyers traveling to destinations served by smaller airports increased by more than 40 percent from a year earlier, while car rental bookings for self-drive trips rose nearly 60 percent.

Popular emerging destinations included Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province, Anshun in Guizhou, Yichun in Heilongjiang, Changbai Mountain in Jilin, and Bortala Mongolian autonomous prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the platform.

Outbound travel is also expected to benefit after several airlines cut fuel surcharges on international routes from July 1, reducing travel costs.

Thailand reclaimed the top spot among outbound destinations, Qunar said, with hotel bookings in Chiang Mai jumping 3.3 times from a year earlier, as young Chinese travelers increasingly combined holidays with short-term courses such as cooking, Muay Thai, yoga, and handicrafts.

Inbound tourism also continued to broaden beyond China's largest cities.

Foreign visitor flight bookings to Datong, known for its ancient grottoes, rose 2.8 times year-on-year, while bookings to Dunhuang more than doubled as overseas tourists sought cultural and heritage experiences in smaller Chinese cities, according to Qunar.