Du Juan in Beijing and Chen Bowen in Haikou
People shop for pork at a supermarket in Beijing on Saturday. AP authorities in several Chinese regions relaxed COVID 19 restrictions to varying degrees on Tuesday, slowly and steadily adopting a new approach to deal with the virus and making life less regimented for the people.
Visitors were allowed to enter parks and other open spaces in Beijing, where commuting rules have already been relaxed, and most restaurants resumed dine-in services after nearly two weeks.
People are not required to take a nucleic acid test every 48 hours and show a negative result before entering public places such as supermarkets, malls and offices. They are required to scan the health code.
Some indoor places such as restaurants, internet cafes, bars and karaoke rooms and certain institutions such as nursing homes, welfare homes and schools will require visitors to show a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours for entry.
The 48 hour negative test rule was lifted for passengers who need only scan the health code when entering terminals, as well as Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport.
People who are fully vaccinated can visit parks and attractions in Kunming, Yunnan province. They don't need to show a negative nucleic acid test result, but scanning the health code, showing their vaccination record, monitoring their body temperature and wearing masks are mandatory, officials said.
The notices issued on Monday and Tuesday said that twelve cities and counties in Hainan said they would no longer implement regional management for people arriving from outside the province, a move that promises to draw more traffic to the tropical region.
Sergei Orlov, 35, an entrepreneur from Russia and a travel marketer in Sanya, said it was a golden opportunity for the tourism business in Hainan to recover.
The search volume for Sanya's inbound air tickets jumped 1.8 times within an hour of the notice issued by the city's online travel agency, according to Qunar. Ticket sales increased 3.3 times compared to the same period on Sunday and hotel bookings tripled.
Those visiting or returning to the province have been advised to self-monitor for three days upon arrival. They were asked to avoid social gatherings and crowded places. Anyone who develops symptoms such as fever, dry cough or loss of taste and smell must seek immediate medical advice, according to the Hainan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
As more regions ease COVID control measures, the hospitality, tourism, and transportation industries are expected to take baby steps toward recovery.
Data from Meituan, an on-demand service platform, shows that the key phrase surrounding tour has been searched very frequently in cities such as Guangzhou, Nanning, Xi'an and Chongqing over the past week.
The number of weekend ticket bookings for scenic spots in Guangzhou had increased as a result of the number of weekend ticket bookings for scenic spots, according to Tongcheng Travel, a major online travel agency.
On Sunday, the travel portal, Fliggy, said that outbound air ticket bookings in popular cities such as Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Shanghai and Hangzhou doubled.