(Yicai Global) June 6 -- Reservations for hotel rooms around venues where the gaokao, or China’s national college entrance examination, will be held have quadrupled this year.

Bookings within three kilometers of gaokao venues have soared nearly four-fold as of May 31 from a year earlier, according to data from online travel agency Trip.Com Group.

Since 2003, the standardized college entrance test it has been held between June 7 and 8, with some provincial-level regions extending that until June 9. In 2020, it was held in July because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, a record 12.9 million students will take the exam, 980,000 more than last year, according to the education ministry.

Higher hotel bookings reflects the potential of household consumption, Securities Daily yesterday reported Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge officer of Huamei Consulting Group, as saying. This, coupled with the demand for travel among high school graduates after the gaokao, indicates that consumption will likely pick up over the summer.

Online searches for ‘gaokao hotel rooms’ and related bookings quadrupled in the week ended June 1 from the previous seven days, data released by travel agency Ly.Com showed.

All double and family rooms have been snapped up despite higher prices, a staffer at a Beijing hotel within one kilometer of a gaokao test site said. A twin room cost CNY389 (USD55) on June 5 and CNY519 on June 6.

Editor: Futura Costaglione