Beijing received some 4.6 million tourists during the five-day May Day holiday, as the country relaxed its travel restrictions amid dwindling Covid-19 cases. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism said that tourism revenue generated over the May Day holiday, which ended on Tuesday, May 5, is around RMB4.18 billion (S$835 million).

A total of 126 major tourist attractions and 226 "star-rated hotels" reopened during the holiday, the bureau said.

Since Beijing lowered its Covid-19 emergency response by one level, visitors from low-risk regions of China are not required to be quarantined for 14 days after entering Beijing.

115 million trips were made over the holiday, and that most trips were made by younger people emerging from weeks of lockdown.

While the number of trips during this holiday was down 41 percent from the 195 million trips made in the same period in 2019, travel operators said the figure is a hopeful sign that tourist confidence is slowly recovering.

The pace of recovery, however, remains slow as China still maintains some social distancing measures, and consumer confidence is still affected by uncertainty, Japanese financial company Nomura opined.

As China gradually returns to life before Covid-19 hit, it has also made preparations to prevent a second wave of infections from imported cases.