China's domestic travel growth slowed during the country's 12-14 June Dragon Boat festival, as people chose to take shorter trips following a strong rebound during last month's Labour Day holiday.
Around 124mn passengers travelled by railways, roads, water and air over 12-14 June, up by 52.5pc from a year earlier but 18.8pc lower than the same period in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, data from the transport ministry show.
The daily average was down by 22.6pc from levels during the 1-5 May Labour Day holiday, when Chinese tourism rebounded strongly. Total travel numbers during the Labour Day period were more than double a year earlier and even marginally higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Travel peaked on the first day of the Dragon Boat festival but was still 43pc lower than the highest level during the May holiday, internet firm Baidu's migration index shows. People chose to take shorter trips or stay at home during the short holiday, after taking longer trips in May.
Road passenger travel totalled 86.35mn during the latest holiday, up by 58.1pc on the year but down by 17.4pc from the same period in 2019, according to the transport ministry figures. Average daily levels fell by 17.8pc from the Labour Day holiday.
The number of vehicles on highways totalled 106mn or 35.37mn/d, down by 33.2pc from the May holiday. Vehicles were not exempted from highway tolls during the Dragon Boat festival, unlike the Labour Day holiday and April's Qingming festival.
Rail, air and water passengers were well below pre-Covid 19 levels, down by 17.4pc, 25.3pc and 61.6pc respectively from 2019's Dragon Boat festival. Levels during the latest holiday were also down by 32.7pc, 28.5pc and 50.7pc from the Labour Day holiday, to 10.56mn/d, 1.24mn/d and 565,000/d respectively.
The slower growth in domestic travel capped road fuel consumption and weighed on downstream restocking both before and after the Dragon Boat festival. Traders made large gasoline purchases in April in anticipation of strong Labour Day travel activity.
