China faces bleak holidays as Covid Zero disrupts travel

Even when the number of tourists trips recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year, holidaymakers were still spending a lot less and making shorter, local trips. - Xinhua

BEIJING (Bloomberg): Chinese holidaymakers face another holiday season ruined by virus outbreaks and controls, with the government’s stringent Covid Zero restrictions and fears of infection expected to keep many people at home during the upcoming LaboUr Day break.

Travel was already down in March, when the biggest Covid-19 outbreak in two years prompted officials to lock down major cities like Shenzhen and block or restrict road traffic to try and stop the transmission of the virus. With millions of Shanghai residents still confined to their homes and restrictions being tightened in several other cities, including in Beijing, for many people travel is on hold for now.