Snap lockdown hurts businesses in Chinese seaside city of Beihai

BEIJING • A Covid-19 outbreak has derailed what is usually the peak season at one of China's top summer hot spots, with a snap lockdown in the seaside city of Beihai shutting hotels and leaving more than 2,000 tourists stranded at one point.

The outbreak in the southern city of 1.83 million people - nestled into a curve of the South China Sea near Vietnam - had grown to more than 1,400 cases as at Thursday. The first case was detected on July 12.

Officials shut down Beihai's most populated districts and halted arrivals and departures from the popular island destination of Weizhou, located 45km off the coast, on July 17.

The health codes on the Covid-19 tracking apps of some tourists were turned to red, meaning they could not go anywhere. Others could not book flights or trains to leave the city.

The situation in Beihai shows that despite recent fine-tuning of China's zero-Covid-19 policy - such as reducing the quarantine period for inbound travellers - snap lockdowns and mobility restrictions based on health codes continue to make travel a gamble and create hurdles for local businesses.

It was a dreaded yet familiar experience for one Shanghai woman surnamed Liang, who had recently endured nearly three months of lockdown in the Asian financial hub as officials struggled to contain a Covid-19 outbreak there.

She said she was looking forward to a relaxing holiday on a beach after the ordeal, but made it only a few days before the virus flared in Beihai.

Ms Liang's health code turned red, leaving her trapped once again, according to a video she shared on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Having previously survived the extended lockdown in Shanghai, Ms Liang knew to act quickly. She ordered groceries online, enough for a week, and had them delivered to the guest house where she was staying.

She also moved to a room with a refrigerator and borrowed kitchenware, she said in the video.

Although frustrated, Ms Liang said in her video that she does not regret her trip to Beihai. From her room, she is enjoying the view of the ocean, which she can see but cannot touch.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, more than a month after the lockdown ended, the city continues to find cases, reporting 18 for Thursday.

Nationwide, there were 1,011 new infections for Thursday, the National Health Commission said yesterday. That compared with 943 new cases a day earlier.

In the first week of this month, Beihai was one of the top 10 most popular travel destinations on Tujia, a Chinese rental platform similar to Airbnb.

But hotels have had to return more than 12 million yuan (S$2.5 million) to customers because of cancellations and full refunds ordered by the authorities, the city's market regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

Covid-19 disruptions have had a major impact on local business, a staff member surnamed Wu from the Gaiting guest house in Beihai said. The guest house had to cancel all bookings and refund customers, she added.

The establishment is now being used to accommodate healthcare workers from a nearby hospital as part of a closed-loop system, but the limited income does not fully make up for the lost revenue from tourism.

Ms Wu now mostly spends her days cleaning and tending to plants. There is not much to do as she, and the rest of the city, waits out Covid-19.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS