China’s flagging economy gets a temporary boost as holiday travel returns to pre-pandemic levels

BEIJING (AP) — Tourism in China has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels during a recent eight-day national holiday, giving a temporary boost to the nation’s flagging economy. The government said that tourism revenues reached about 753 billion yuan ($103 billion) during the combined Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday period that ended Friday, a rise of 1.5 percent over 2019 and 130% compared to last year. Domestic tourism benefited somewhat from a slower recovery in international travel as people chose to travel at home. China maintained locked-downs and other restrictions much longer than most other countries, enforcing a “zero-COVID” policy until last December.