Trip.com Group, a leading global travel services provider, has released data showing a big increase in mainland Chinese demand for travel to Macao SAR in the upcoming May Day holiday. Searches and bookings of Macao travel products by mainland China users of Trip.com Group platform Ctrip have risen significantly in recent weeks, following the strong recovery of domestic travel as evidenced over the Qingming Festival holiday earlier this month.
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Trip.com Group data shows that, as of Thursday 8th April, the total number of bookings for Macao travel products during the May Day holidays increased by 20 percent compared to 2019, and is double the booking volume of the same period in April this year. In addition to bookings, the search volume for flights in and out of Macao rose to over 140 percent higher than the previous month. The cost of air tickets in and out of Macao are rising rapidly too, according to Trip.com Group data, the average economy class fare increased by over 50% from early April.
Whilst there are still three weeks before the May Day holiday, the number of bookings for Macao hotels through the Trip.com Group platform, Ctrip, has doubled compared to the same period in 2019. Room night prices of high-end hotels have increased significantly too, with a price increase of about 30% compared to the Qingming Festival holiday in early April.
Macao is currently the only outbound destination where mainland Chinese residents are not required to perform a 14-day quarantine on arrival and on their return. With no reported cases in Macao for over a year, travellers must hold a valid negative COIVD-19 test taken within the last seven days upon arrival and abide by all local safety and virus control measures. The continuing rise in popularity among mainland Chinese travellers for destinations such as Macao further evidences the vast amount of pent-up travel demand that exists.
Following the control of the spread of COVID-19 and the recovery of domestic travel in China last year, Trip.com Group have worked with the Macao government to support the revitalization of travel to the popular southern Chinese destination. In September last year, Trip.com Group Chairman, James Liang, hosted a broadcast of the BOSS Live show in Macao, promoting a series of unique products and the strong pandemic protection measures in place. As a leading global travel services provider at the forefront of the global travel revival, Trip.com Group will continue to support and enable partners and travellers in the safe recovery of travel.