China’s tourism industry expects more than 600m trips to be taken during the October Golden Week, down a fifth from a year ago, in what will be a test of consumer demand after the nation’s success in controlling Covid-19.

The annual holiday, which begins on October 1, is the country’s busiest for domestic tourism. China’s economic recovery from coronavirus has so far been fuelled by state-supported industrial activity, while the health crisis has widened the gap between rich and poor households.

Travel booking platform Ctrip estimates more than 600m trips will be made during the eight-day holiday, which combines China’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. That figure represents about 80 per cent of the number of trips made in the same period last year, when the tourism industry generated Rmb65bn ($9.5bn) in revenues.