(Yicai Global) Dec. 28 -- China’s three-day New Year’s holiday may kick off a recovery in the travel sector as the country starts to move on from the pandemic.

The four major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are some of the 10 most popular destinations for cross-provincial travel between Dec. 31 and Jan. 2, according to flight and hotel bookings platform Qunar.

The others are the two southern coastal cities of Sanya and Haikou, the three southwestern cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, and Kunming, and the historical city of Xi'an in central China.

As the country’s Covid-19 policy is relaxed, travel agency Spring Tour is actively restoring its business, especially outbound tours that were halted for three years and require time to restart, according to Zhou Weihong, deputy manager.

China’s eased Covid-19 policies and the business opportunity afforded by the holidays will be conducive to a further recovery in the travel industry, Zhou added.

Spending New Year's Eve at a theme park, including Shanghai Disney Resort, has started trending on online ticketing platforms. Bookings for Universal Beijing Resort, the world's largest Universal resort which opened last year, have more than doubled for Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 compared with early this month. Hotel bookings near the resort have also surged nearly 30 times for those two days.

And southern China's Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, which will have fireworks on New Year's Eve, has doubled its daily ticket sales for that day from early December.

Holidaymakers are also planning to head abroad. After China announced on Dec. 26 that the quarantine requirement for inbound travelers will be scrapped on Jan. 8, bookings for international hotels on New Year's Eve jumped nearly 40 percent compared with a day earlier.

Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States are some of the most popular destinations based on search volume.

Editors: Shi Yi, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi