(Yicai) May 7 -- The number of trips made in China during the recent five-day Labor Day holiday surged 24.1 percent from the same period in 2019, as food tours and travel to smaller, lesser-known destinations become more popular, according to the latest data.

More than 1.36 billion trips were made between May 1 and May 5, equating to an average of 270 million trips each day, according to data from the Ministry of Transport. The country’s population is around 1.4 billion.

Many Hong Kong residents visited the Chinese mainland during the May Day holiday. The number of Hong Kong residents exiting the special administrative region jumped 56 percent on May 1 from a year earlier to 195,000 people, according to the Hong Kong Immigration Department. Of this, 87 percent were headed for the mainland. And a record 53 million trips were made from Hong Kong to the mainland last year.

Orders placed by Hong Kong-ers on lifestyle service providers Meituan and Dianping surged two-and-a-half times in the first quarter from a year earlier, and the transaction value jumped 135 percent, according to data released by Beijing-based Meituan at the end of April.

Shenzhen and Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province, Changsha in central Hunan province, and Wuhan in central Hubei province have become popular destinations for Hong Kong people. Hong Kong-ers’ food-and-beverage expenditure in Wuhan lept 50.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, and that on accommodation surged 64 percent, according to Meituan.

Many people also traveled from the mainland to Hong Kong. Hong Kong hotel bookings by mainland residents soared 18.3 percent during the Labor Day break from a year ago and the transaction value surged 68.3 percent.

The number of dine-in orders soared 73 percent from May 1 to May 3 year on year, according to Meituan's restaurant review platform. While takeout giant Ele.me’s food deliveries to scenic spots, parks and hotels climbed 50 percent during the Labor Day holiday from a week earlier, it said.

Carpooling requests during the holiday hit a record high on Chinese bike-sharing giant Hello’s platform, surging 40 percent year on year to 43.2 million orders.

And demand for carpooling in small cities with niche attractions, such as Weifang in eastern Shandong province, Ji’an in eastern Jiangxi province and Baoji in central Shaanxi province, doubled.

Transport demand to remote areas such as the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern Sichuan province, Tonghua in northeastern Jilin province, Tianshui in northwestern Gansu province, Turpan in western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Qinghai province, more than tripled over the holiday from a month earlier, according to data from ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing Technology.

Editor: Kim Taylor