Domestic tours popular for Labor Day
14/4/2003 16:56
The suspension of package tours to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand is
expected to dent overseas travel business over the coming Labor Day holiday,
while domestic tours will gain in popularity, eastday.com reported
today.
The National Tourism Administration issued a circular on April 11
to suspend package tours to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand after the World
Health Organization declared the countries infected with Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Package tours to the three nations were
previously the main cash cow of the overseas travel market in Guangzhou, so the
suspension with no timetable for re-opening is a big blow to travel agencies in
Guangzhou over the coming Labor Day holiday, said a spokesman for the Guangzhou
Baiyun International Airport.
Like Guangzhou, Shenzhen is also seeing
sluggish business in the overseas travel market for the Labor Day holiday, with
many tourists scrapping their plans for overseas destinations.
Many
travelers are opting to take domestic trips instead, with Lijiang, Kunming,
Guilin, Haikou, Sanya and Chengdu proving very popular.
No airfare
discounts are offered on those popular trips during the peak period around April
29, said a spokesman with a Shenzhen airline.
Airlines in Shenzhen will
add more flights to Urumqi, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beihai, Guilin, Nanchang and
Guiyang during the Labor Day holiday.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
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