Plane ticket prices fall sharply for Dragon Boat Festival

Plane ticket prices dive sharply for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, with the prices expected to be 20 percent lower than the May Day holiday, Shanghai Observer reported on Sunday.

Starting from June 5, the fuel surcharges on domestic air tickets in China will be cut for the third time this year, following the cuts on Jan 5 and April 5.

Fuel surcharges have been reduced by 33.33 percent and 50 percent, respectively, for flights below 800 kilometers and above 800 kilometers.

The reduced fuel surcharges will cut travel cost, especially long distance travel above 800 kilometers, bringing new benefits to the recovering domestic tourism industry, said a representative from Tongcheng Research Institute.

China's current domestic civil aviation market is recovering relatively well, with domestic flight volume bouncing back to 120 percent of 2019 levels, and passenger volume having also recovered to more than 100 percent, said Lin Zhijie, a civil aviation insider.

Since the first quarter, the recovery of inter-provincial tourism in China has accelerated, and the recovery of tourist flow in most scenic spots has exceeded the level of the same period in 2019, according to a research report by China Merchants Securities.

With the May Day data of hotel tourism exceeding expectations, the Dragon Boat Festival and summer vacation tourism are poised for growth, driving continuous growth in the second quarter of this year.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival falls on June 22 and lasts until June 24.