Travel prices for May Day holiday surge

Travel prices including flight ticket prices and group tour fees for the upcoming May Day holiday are seeing a raise, CCTV-2 reported on Tuesday.

For short-term trips, the group tour fees went up 30 to 40 percent compared to the price during low season, and the price for traveling via flight went up around 50 percent, said Tang Xiaofei, a staff member of a tourism group based in Zhejiang province.

'The inquiries are seeing an increase for some of the most popular domestic tourist destinations such as Guangdong province, Beijing, Xiamen, and Nanjing,' Tang added.

Flight tickets are normally around 1,000 yuan ($138.23) for a round-trip flight ticket between Zhejiang and Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region off-peak, but during the May Day holiday season it is expected to be 2-fold of the price, said Dai Meina, a manager of a traveling agency in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

Eased visa policies for destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, and Jeju Island in South Korea have made traveling easier, also driving an increase for outbound flight tickets.

Flight prices are seeing 1,500-2,000 yuan increase for Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East or visa-free countries, an increase of around 30 percent, Tang said.