THE much-anticipated return of Chinese tourists is looking more like a slow trickle than a giant wave. China’s Labour Day travel peak season is just two months away, but forward air-ticket bookings by the Chinese suggest it is still far from business-as-usual for the world’s largest source market.

Data from global air travel analytics company ForwardKeys shows that air tickets booked from China as at Feb 21 for outbound travel between Apr 28 and May 7 stood at only 22 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The North Asian nation’s Labour Day holiday – a traditional “golden week” for tourism – runs from Apr 29 to May 3 this year.