Opinion: Nobody Wins in China’s Travel Mania

The five-day Labor Day break, China’s first long holiday free of Covid-19 restrictions after the country ditched its “zero-Covid” policy in December, has seen overcrowded domestic tourist sites, overbooked accommodation nearby and strained transport systems.

The tourism boom during the holiday that ended Wednesday was no doubt driven by a release of pent-up travel demand. But we must realize that the way China designs some of its public holiday schedule — planned around long stretches — inevitably leads to a supply-demand imbalance in tourism-related capacity during long holidays, pushing up travel expenses and causing much disappointment among tourists. Meanwhile, businesses in the tourism sector, while seemingly making a fortune out of the travel surge, have to face enormous pressure to operate beyond their full capacity.