It has been 10 months since he made his last trip, when he visited Thailand. He usually travels at least twice a year.

Zhang says he has accumulated a lot of overtime at work during the outbreak and is happy that he can finally start using it.

"I'll definitely make the most of the free tickets and spend more time on the island whenever I can later this year," he says.

Zhang is one of many Beijingers who are more than ready for post-epidemic travel.

The number of Beijing residents who opened the major online travel agency Trip.com's app surged by 380 percent once the news broke that restrictions would be relaxed, the Shanghai-based agency reports.

Hainan province's Sanya and Haikou, Yunnan province's Kunming, Chongqing, Shaanxi province's Xi'an, Henan province's Zhengzhou and Guangdong province's Guangzhou and Shenzhen topped the list of destinations searched by Beijing residents. Sanya led the searches, increasing by 580 percent.