BEIJING: As China's domestic tourism unravels, desperate provinces are slashing ticket prices, offering tax breaks and even begging locals to help save plummeting tourist earnings in a sector that employs tens of millions of people.
The downturn has worsened in recent months as the Omicron variant took hold, leaving the industry in its worst state since before the pandemic and boding ill for a sector that contributed 11.05 per cent to China's gross domestic product in 2019 and supported nearly 80 million jobs, or 10 per cent of all employment.
A continued tourism freeze may remove at least 0.5 percentage points from China's 2022 GDP growth, he said. The government has set a growth target of about 5.5 per cent this year. Tourists slide down a giant sand dune in Shapotou, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, on Jul 27, 2021. Amid the travel curbs, tourists from other provinces accounted for just 5 per cent of visitors at scenic spots across China during the Tomb Sweeping holiday in early April, official data shows.