(Yicai Global) April 30 -- China's tourism market is expected to recover during the upcoming May Day holiday with consumption expected to hit a record high due to the country's accelerating Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Travel-related consumption should break the 2019 record of CNY117.7 billion (USD18.2 billion) during this year's five-day holiday, Li Huaqiang, deputy director of the transportation services department at the Ministry of Transport, said at a press conference yesterday.

The number of travelers taking trains, ferries, or flights over the public holiday should reach 265 million, according to Li. In 2019, the figure was 195 million.

China has administered 24.4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses across the country as of April 28, and more than half of that was received during the past month, said Mi Feng, spokesperson of the National Health Commission.

As the tourism demand picks up, accommodation prices are rising. "The hotel has been fully reserved," said a salesperson of a five-star hotel in the suburbs of Beijing. "Prices have more than doubled." A standard room now costs more than CNY2,000 (USD309) per night, the person added.

Hotel reservations on Trip.Com have jumped by 43 percent for the May Day holiday from the same period of 2019, according to the travel agency. Hebei province's coastal city of Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, southern China's Zhuhai, Shantou, eastern China's Yangzhou, as well as Shanghai, are the top cities with the highest markups.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi