Under normal circumstances, the week of the Lunar New Year should be a highlight of the Chinese tourism industry’s calendar. Every year, in the space of a week, Chinese make around hundreds of millions of trips—boarding flights, visiting family and friends, and making the most of big-ticket domestic tourism sites. Between Jan. and 19, there were nearly 120 million railway trips in preparation for the holiday, according to the transport ministry, a 20% increase compared to last year.
But the growing coronavirus crisis, which is believed to have started in the city of Wuhan, has put a sudden stop to proceedings. Travelers have abandoned plans and been turned away from attractions, as the Chinese government seeks to avoid a repeat of the SARS epidemic of 2002 and 2003 which killed more than 8,000 worldwide. Hundreds of flights out of Wuhan have been canceled, with airlines such…