People enjoy camping at the Donghu Lake scenic area in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Nov. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

NEW DESTINATIONS

China saw nearly 1.22 billion domestic tourist trips in the first quarter of 2023, up 46.5 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Both the Spring Festival and the Qingming Festival recorded significant yearly rises in the number of tours.

The number of inbound and outbound flights in popular tourist destinations such as Hangzhou, Chengdu, Sanya and Dali rose by 20 percent in March from the same period in 2019, according to travel service provider Qunar. In the first quarter of 2023, hotel bookings in popular tourist cities grew by 60 percent from pre-epidemic levels.

"March is usually an off-season for travel, but this year the tourism market has seen better-than-expected recovery," said Guo Lechun, vice head of the big data research institute of Qunar.

The market rebound is also reflected by the number of newly founded tourism-related companies in the first three months of this year, which according to Qichacha, a leading platform offering company information inquiry services, reached 79,900.

The ongoing travel frenzy has created unlikely tourist hotspots. Zibo, an industrial city in Shandong Province, has become one of the most popular tourist spots in China after its iconic barbecue, which wraps grilled meat in crispy pancakes, made waves on the social media.

The sudden influx of foodies from across China has reportedly overwhelmed local eateries and prompted local authorities to add trains and temporary bus routes.

Tourists have also swarmed into Jiangmen, a coastal city in the southern province of Guangdong where the popular Chinese TV series "The Knockout" was filmed. According to the local government, the number of trips into the city between January and February surged by about 68 percent year on year.