Chinese people travelers reopen suitcases, but not wallets. More than 240 million people visit mostly nearby destinations such as Shanghai and Hong Kong during the nearly week-long Labor Day celebration. They are slightly higher than before the coronavirus, but the costs are lower as many find cheaper ways to have fun. These years holidays May, which began last Saturday, marks the first period of unrestricted movement across the country since the pandemic. Due to the lack of international flights, popular Chinese destinations have benefited from a record number of tourists arriving there.

About 100,000 visitors a day visited the Macau Game Center over the weekend, while tickets for the Great Wall of China in Beijing and Shanghai Disneyland sold out. Bookings for domestic travel during the holidays jumped eightfold from last year, according to online travel agency Trip.com, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

The return of Chinese holidaymakers should be regarded as a huge relief both at home and abroad. According to the international rating agency Fitch, before the pandemic, domestic tourism accounted for 11% of the country’s total GDP and 10% of employment in the country. Travelers from China spent $255 billion abroad, or 17% of global travel spending abroad, according to 2019 data from the UN World Tourism Organization. However, any optimism seems premature. Official estimates put domestic tourism revenue at just 83% of 2019 levels at 120 billion yuan ($17.4 billion), indicating that consumers are opting for cheaper travel.

A little-known city in coastal Shandong province, Zibo, for example, boasts the country’s highest hotel occupancy rate during Labor Day, according to Bloomberg news agency. The news spread on Chinese social media thanks to the kebab dishes offered there. Meanwhile, overseas travel is being tested. The number of people traveling from mainland China to traditionally popular destinations in the wider area, such as Thailand, Japan and South Korea, has declined.

Scheduled international departures from China last month accounted for just over a third of flights in April 2019, according to Cirium data. The country’s three main carriers, Air China, China Southern and China Eastern, are struggling with high oil prices, a weak yuan and geopolitical tensions. While travel abroad is on the rise, spending has not kept pace.

All this bodes well for an already weak recovery in consumer spending. The markets for luxury goods and essentials show positive dynamics, but for medium and large-sized goods such as smartphones, mobile phones and cars, the picture is disappointing. For now, cheap barbecue skewers will still be placed in the right boxes for Chinese tourists.