Fully booked! China braces for record May Day holiday rush

China is bracing for a record-high travel rush over the Labour Day holiday, with popular sightseeing spots selling out of tickets and some cities warning would-be visitors away as domestic tourism rebounds after Beijing ended COVID curbs. Authorities are expecting 19m trips to be made across China's vast railway network on Saturday, the first day of the five-day holiday, which would be the highest number of rail trips made in a single day in the country's history. It compares to 4.4m rail trips on May 1 last year, when China locked down several cities including Shanghai to battle the spread of the virus, and the last peak of 18.8m on the same day in 2021. Over the 40-day Lunar New Year travel period in January-February this year, 348 trips were made in total, or about 8.7m trips a day on average, according to the National Railway Administration. The May holiday is far shorter than the Lunar New Year and October Golden Week holidays but traditionally still is one of China's busiest travel seasons as spring moves into summer. This year, the holiday is crucial for the tourism industry as well as the wider Chinese economy as the country strives to recover from years of virus disruptions. China's aviation authority said it expects air passenger trips to reach a total of 9m over the five days. <br/>