Chinese tourists are all charged up for travelling again. Bookings in China for trips abroad during the upcoming May Day holiday point to a continued recovery in travel to Asian countries. However, the numbers remain far off pre-COVID levels with long-haul airfares soaring and insufficient flights available.
Overseas tour bookings for the upcoming holiday, for which many in China are off from April 29 until May 3, are up 157% from the beginning of April, according to Ctrip, the country's largest online travel firm.
But, given airline capacity is yet to fully recover after China kept its borders shut for three years and underlying consumer demand remains weak, the numbers do not compare well with the heyday of Chinese outbound tourism.
In February, over 150,000 Chinese tourists travelled to Thailand, the latest data from the Thai Ministry of Tourism show - a three-year high but still 85% below February 2019 levels.
Trips to Japan and South Korea have only recovered to 5%-10% of February 2019 levels.
The largest maze on the coast has opened in the city of Siófok on the southern shore of Lake Balaton. It was built from 200 hay bales and covers an area of 600 square meters
A virtual tour of the ancient Strashnaya Cave, located in the Krasnoshchekovsky district of the Altai Territory, is now available on the "3D Archaeology" website (a project of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
A grand journey for Father Frost aboard his magical train will begin this year on November 19th at the Taishet station, lasting for 54 days. During this time, the train will cover nearly 30,000 kilometers
The digital art festival "Miracle of Light" will take place from November 2nd to 4th at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. Bright projections will be accompanied by music, and artists will present unique compositions: they will tell the story of St. Petersburg in their own way and introduce the audience to unusual characters. This was announced on the festival's page on the social network VKontakte
