The seven-day May Day holiday in spring and its autumn counterpart, National Day, serve a dual purpose. They spur domestic consumption while offering people a chance to improve the quality of their lives with leisure time.

China extended the May Day holiday to seven consecutive days in 2001. Last year, however, the SARS outbreak forced the central government to cancel the long spring break.

Tourism industry sources say that this year, nearly 30 percent of China’s urban population chose to travel as their major form of recreation for the holiday week.

From May 1 to 6, a total of 13.2 million travelers visited 99 major scenic spots on the mainland, with 455 million yuan (US$54.8 million) worth of tickets sold.

On May 1, the first day of the holiday week, more than 200,000 people came to Beijing. Top hotels had an average occupancy rate of 58 percent while average hotels had 43 percent and suburban inns, 65 percent.

The cumulative number of visitors to the capital is estimated to have topped 100 million by Friday, May 7.

Northeast China’s Liaoning Province saw more than 5 million tourists in seven days, a rise of 15 percent over the holiday week in 2002. Revenue from tourism amounted to more than 2.1 billion yuan (US$253.0 million), up 16 percent from the same period in 2002.

About 310 million people traveled by trains and other public vehicles during the week, an increase of 9 percent from the 2002 holiday.

Increasing numbers of people chose to travel with their own vehicles.

“Traffic was smooth when I drove from Beijing to the Beidaihe beach resort in Hebei Province,” said a traveler surnamed Guo. “Both Beijing and Hebei have increased the number of exits on their highways, and there was no queue at all at the toll stations.”

Other popular recreational pastimes included fitness activities, such as working out at a gym, swimming and playing tennis or table tennis.

A Mr. Liang, who became a member of the Beijing Sci-Tech Fitness Center during the week, said that working out embodied the spirit of International Labor Day. Liang designed a personal exercise regime for the holiday, playing tennis for an hour and a half on each of the seven days.

Others exercised their bank cards.

In Beijing alone, retail sales for the holiday week are estimated at 7.0 billion yuan (US$843.4 million), and sales at other commercial enterprises at 1.1 billion yuan (US$133.7 million).

Preliminary estimates show department store sales during the week up 51 percent from their non-holiday average. Supermarket and convenience stores sales were an estimated 57 percent higher than normal.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2004)