China’s Omicron outbreak sees coronavirus-hit hotels offer studycations to students
- China is grappling with its most severe Omicron variant outbreak, and some of its major economic powerhouses have been forced into partial lockdown
- China’s service sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus, partially due to the absence of international travellers over the last two years
Hotels in China’s coronavirus-hit service sector have come up with a new inventive way of filling empty rooms by offering so-called studycations for students who have been forced to end face-to-face classes amid the ongoing Omicron outbreak.
Schools have again been forced to close and companies have asked their employees to work from home amid the latest Omicron outbreak and hotels in major Chinese cities are seeking new ways to make up for lost revenue after total tourism spending last year reached only half the level seen in 2019.
In Shanghai, where children have returned home from schools and frequent neighbourhood lockdowns have been implemented since last week, the Mandarin Oriental in the Pudong district is offering a week-long studycation package priced at 5,900 yuan (US$928) per person.
The package, aimed at students aged between seven and 16, includes four nights’ stay with three meals per day, and “daily supervision from the hotel designated butler,” according to a flyer printed in both Chinese and English.
