SHANGHAI, June 24 — A total of 140.47 million trips were made in China during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival, up 89.1 per cent from a year earlier but down 22.8 per cent from the pre-Covid levels of 2019, official broadcaster CCTV said on its website.

Tourism data during the June 22-24 holiday is being closely watched as a barometer of China’s economic health, with Beijing readying fresh stimulus to revive a fading post-Covid recovery.

The number of railway trips jumped 150.2 per cent from a year earlier to 43.26 million, CCTV reported, citing the Ministry of Transport. That’s just 12.8 per cent higher than during the same period of 2019, it said.

Road travel rose 64.4 per cent year-on-year to 89.34 million, but was down 33.3 per cent from the same period in pre-Covid 2019.

Trips using ships also fell sharply from 2019, down 43.6 per cent to 2.53 million, though nearly doubling from a year ago.

Airborne trips totalled 5.34 million, surging 287 per cent from a year earlier, but up just 3 per cent from 2019, according to CCTV. — Reuters