China’s Labor Day Tourist Spending Plummets Amid Covid Curbs

(Bloomberg) — Chinese tourism travel and spending plummeted over the national Labor Day holiday as the government’s stringent “zero-Covid” restrictions and fears of infection kept people at home.

Tourist spending over the five-day vacation period was 64.7 billion yuan ($9.8 billion), down 43% from last year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Wednesday. The number of domestic tourist trips over the break fell 30% to 160 million from 230 million last year, it said.