May Day, May Day: Most flights and homestays have sold out

Photo: Asadal/Wikimedia Commons

If you haven’t booked your May Day holiday by now, it looks like you’re going to be stuck in Beijing

If you're still mulling over whether to head to Tokyo or Osaka over the Labour Day holidays, well, it looks like the decision has now been taken out of your hands. According to travel site Qunar, flights from Beijing to these two Japanese cities, as well as many other neighbouring countries, have already sold out. 

You won’t have much luck heading out on the high-speed train to popular domestic locations either. Thinking of scaling Huangshan, digging into authentic hotpot in Chongqing or enjoying the sea breeze in Dalian? Try the next holidays, procrastinator; train and discounted airline tickets on May 1 are also booked solid. 

With this year’s holiday extended from one to four days this year, many locals are taking advantage of the sudden windfall of spare time – it’s half a Golden Week after all – to travel. If you thought that the recent Qingming holidays were bad, expect 50 percent more tourists. According to Ctrip and Qunar, of the total number of travellers, people born in the '80s and '90s make up 50 percent, with that number unsurprisingly dropping in older demographics. 49 percent of travellers will reportedly spend four to six days on holiday, while 31 percent are expected to spend less than three days relaxing (and a cheeky 6 percent will be spending more than ten days travelling).

The city will start to empty on Friday April 27, with train stations and airports expected to be packed on Sunday and Monday when the bulk of Beijingers leave... who will then be promptly replaced with hordes of domestic tourists. Ctrip's booking statistics show that the top Chinese city to visit this public holiday is Beijing. While we’re unsure what percentage of the estimated 160 million Chinese tourists will be heading our way, it’s safe to say you’ll probably want to stay away from the city’s tourist attractions. According to stats, visitors to Beijing spend, on average, the most out of all cities (4,249RMB from May 1-4), while Shanghai visitors spend the second-highest amount (3,725RMB from May 1-4).

Still determined to have a vacay in China? Skip Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Nanjing as these cities, other than Beijing, are also the top picks for Chinese domestic travellers this year. You might also want to book your Airbnb stays in other cities now – Shanghai and Beijing’s are reportedly already fully booked. On the other hand, if you want to escape China you might want to avoid Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Bali, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Tokyo and Dubai as these are reportedly the top international cities Chinese tourists have booked tours to visit. 

If you’re disappointed to be staying in Beijing, the next long break is the National Day holiday, which is just 160 days away. Time to start booking those flights now? 

Still want to get out of Beijing? Hit 'Read more' below for Beijing's best day trips.

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