Trending toward travel

Domestic tourism is recovering as the epidemic comes under control in China, but outbound numbers seem unlikely to rebound until next year, industry insiders say.

Beijing's Wtown resort has continued offering sanitation kits containing disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizers since it reopened in late April. The water town's visitor numbers rebounded by up to 95 percent in May.

"A lot of people have called to ask about safety," says Wang Zuoquan, an official with the attraction.

Although the recent COVID-19 flare-up in the capital has put a damper on travel enthusiasm, Wang believes things will return to normal soon, as Beijing brings the outbreak under control.

"We'll continue to offer sanitation services and packages in the long run, even when the domestic (epidemic) situation is completely over," Wang says.

Such safety measures as hygiene and social distancing are expected to be standard practices in the tourism industry until a vaccine is available, says a report on trends that will shape post-epidemic domestic travel by Mailman X, a Shanghai-based China travel-and-lifestyle marketing agency.

These rules, along with general controls like ensuring traveler numbers don't exceed 30 percent of the maximum capacity, reduce the risk of new outbreaks, the report says.

Chinese tourists increasingly place a premium on hygiene.