Flight and hotel bookings on major platforms indicate a major tourism boom coming in China for the Qingming Festival holiday from April 4 to 6.

On Ctrip.com, one of China's largest online travel agencies, holiday-period bookings have increased by nearly four times from the same period last year, with ticket sales to scenic spots increasing by five times.
Qunar, another major Chinese online travel agency, has seen a significant increase in the percentage of travelers who are vacationing or visiting relatives from mid-March through to the Qingming Festival. More than half of the travelers are between 27 and 40 years old.
While major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai remain popular tourist destinations, lower-tier cities with small-sized airports have seen explosive growth in tourist bookings during the three-day holiday.
"On our Qunar platform, advance bookings for flights to cities with small airports, such as Zhanjiang in Guangdong, Mangshi in Yunnan, Zhoushan in Zhejiang and Yanji in Jilin, have more than tripled from the same period last year. In terms of prices, two-thirds of the booked flights charge tourists less than 300 yuan per night," said Liu Ting, a researcher at Qunar's Big Data Research Institute.
The number of bookings for cross-border trips has also increased significantly.
Meanwhile, overseas destinations such as Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have become popular among Chinese tourists for the upcoming holiday, according to online flight booking data.
Online search volume for destinations such as Athens, Milan, Zurich and Paris also increased by more than 50 percent from the previous week.
"In terms of airfare, there was no significant increase in long-haul air ticket prices on March 30 and 31 compared to mid-March. Flights departing on April 1 and 2 are nearly 40 percent cheaper than those on March 30, which can save tourists some money," said Liu.
Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that pays tribute to the deceased and a time for people to worship their ancestors. As such, searches for inbound international flights on online booking platforms have also increased significantly.
China's recent expansion of visa-free policies also boosted the online search volume of China-bound flights from Switzerland, Hungary, Austria and other countries.