China expects to see around 250 million domestic trips during the upcoming May Day holiday from May 1 to 5. The sales of admission tickets to tourist attractions, air and train tickets as well as hotel bookings have seen a surge as people make travel plans ahead of the holiday.

Tourist attractions across the country have adjusted their ticket purchasing policies to brace for the tourism spike amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Tickets for the renowned Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, were completely sold out within 10 minutes of being made available for purchase. 

In southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui Museum will restrict daily visitor numbers and require online bookings in advance. And the museum's ticket office will only manage free and discounted tickets rather than general admission tickets to reduce gatherings. The museum has gained much popularity since late March after new findings were announced on the archaeological site that dates back 3,000 years.

Meanwhile, traffic authorities are bracing for a rush in medium- and long-distance self-drive trips during the holiday as the number of cars registered across the country hit 229 million by the end of March. There will be rising traffic volumes on major road networks, and congestion on expressways is estimated to increase by 10 percent from the same period last year.

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(With input from Xinhua)