eTN Asia, 10-17-2006
The recent weeklong National Day holiday in China has proved to a boon for its tourism industry.
Beijing received 4.32 million visitors during the seven days, 1.8 percent up from last year, and tourism income crossed 3.6 billion yuan or US$455 million, according to the municipal vocation office.
In southern China’s Guangdong Province, the week saw visitors spend 3.2 billion yuan as the city received 6.55 million visitors, 3.39 percent up from the same time last year. East China’s commercial hub Shanghai welcomed more than four million visitors during the weeklong vacation.
As per the information available, the recent National Day holiday week, one of the nation’s three “Golden Weeks”, four big attractions -- the Summer Palace, Beijing Zoo, Beihai Park and the Temple of Heaven -- received 16 million visitors.
According to Xinhua news agency, 120,000 people visited the newly opened Happy Valley amusement park, while western Beijing’s Mentougou District with its ancient temples and well-reserved traditional village houses received more than 270,000 visitors resulting in an income of US$ 2.67 million.
The report added that the number of passengers going through the Shanghai Railway station hit a record high on October 1, when about 957,000 people traveled by train that day. From September 28 to October 7, the railway station handled 7.12 million passengers. Five additional tourist trains and 716 additional passenger trains were arranged during the holiday. The first weeklong vocation since the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway brought 11,536 visitors to the Potala Palacein the first six days, including 2,299 from other countries.
