Brenda Goh, Sophie Yu

BEIJING, (Reuters) – China’s May Day holiday, Fengxi Inn, is a popular period for guests to book their rooms in advance. This is due to the fact that the guesthouse lies in the green hills of the country’s southwestern Guizhou area.

However, it expects much fewer people to visit this holiday than usual, despite cutting room rates and promoting on social media. China is fighting its worst outbreak in recent years, which began in Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Chen from Fengxi Inn, who only spoke her name, said, “We have only guests on May 1st & 2nd. We have very few guests after that.” People won’t travel if they have to pass multiple COVID exams.”

The country’s hotels have been bracing themselves for one of the most challenging periods in China’s history, which is set to begin early 2020.

China’s May holidays, which run from April 30 through May 4, are traditionally the busiest. Spring is now in summer.

Prices have dropped up to half in hotels across China, from Beijing to Sanya, and room rates for many Chinese cities are at their lowest point in 5 years, Qunar.com’s travel search engine.

Gavekal Dragonomics’ research found that at least 57 out of China’s 100 largest cities had COVID restrictions as of the week ending. This includes Shanghai, China’s most populous. Others have placed restrictions such as multiple COVID testing or quarantine upon arrival for travellers.

According to a Ministry of Transport official, passenger numbers across rail, air, and road will fall 62% annually over five days.

Trip.com Group, a travel company, said that more than half of the holiday bookings were made by travelers who wanted to be close to their home in their local province.

Some cities have asked residents to not leave. Shenzhen gave 500 million yuan (or $75.21 million) to its residents as electronic shopping vouchers, which they can use to buy local food and shop at their favorite restaurants. Ningbo on the east side is also doing similar.

Jacob Cooke (co-founder, CEO, WPIC Marketing + Technologies), an ecommerce consultancy firm, said that people have been cancelling travel plans for the May long weekend.

($1 = 6.6483 renminbi)