Tourists pose for selfie at the Italian Style Area in Hebei district of North China's Tianjin, May 1, 2021. (Photo/Xinhua)
As the International Children's Day is around the corner, a scramble for China's family trip market is underway, with travel agencies, hotels and theme parks putting more efforts to attract customers.
Trip.com, China's largest online travel agency, together with domestic zoos, such as Beijing Aquarium and Nantong Forest Safari Park, recently launched an "online zoo" event to livestream star animals such as pandas, penguins, marmots and killer whales.
Besides online travel agencies, hotels such as the Westin Beijing Chaoyang and Grand Hyatt Beijing are also unveiling their respective event "2021 Children's Day Carnival" and "Ancient Egypt Family Room" to capture the market share.
When talking about family trips, theme parks cannot be ignored. Beijing Happy Valley, Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park and Tianjin Polar Haichang Ocean Park all unveiled a series of events to take their best shot at the International Children's Day, which is celebrated on June 1.
In fact, since the COVID-19 pandemic, China's family trips market has undergone some changes, with customers mainly focused on short-distance trips close to cities, among which zoos have long been popular.
Last year, the market share of short-distance family trips showed a sharp rebound and the number of tourists travelling to non-first-tier cities even surpassed the pre-epidemic level, according to a report released by online travel platform Tongcheng.
