Tourism Records Fall in Beijing And Shanghai for Golden Week -- china.org.cn

More than four million visitors visited China's commercial hub Shanghai during the weeklong National Day vacation, letting the city earn 2.7 billion yuan (about US$337.5 million) in tourism income, 9.25 percent higher than the same period last year, said the municipal vacation office on Saturday.

From October 1 to 7, Shanghai's 86 major scenic spots were visited by 2.2 million people, a year-on-year growth of over 30 percent. Growth also spread to the commercial sector with Huaihai Road's 15 shopping malls reporting a turnover of 51 million yuan (about US$6.4 million) and Nanjing Road's pedestrian mall registering a colossal profit of 366 million yuan (about US$45.8 million), up 15 percent and 18 percent on last year respectively.

The visitor surge put a lot of pressure on the public transportation system in Shanghai, said the office. The Shanghai Railway Administration said over 700,000 people went through Shanghai's railway stations on Saturday, and stated passenger numbers would remain at around 600,000 for two more days.

National Day became the first weeklong holiday in 1999 when the State Council promulgated a new regulation prolonging three festivals to seven-day holidays. These long breaks, new to Chinese people, were met with enthusiasm, a feeling which reflected on tourism income nationwide as the festival witnesses 28 million domestic tourists.

The two other week-long holidays occur during Spring Festival and around Labor Day on May 1.

The nation's capital was not found wanting though as over 5.2 million Chinese and foreigners visited Beijing's Tian'anmen Square during the National Day vacation, a new visitor record for the world's largest city square.

Beijing police sources said on Saturday the number was the highest in the past few decades, beating out the 4.9 million visitors in 2005 and trouncing the 3.9 million in 2004, explaining that the fact that Mid-Autumn Day fell during the vacation added to the turn-out.

Many Chinese people traditionally pay a visit to the Square during the National Day holiday and the 440,000-square-meter square -- about the size of 63 football fields -- is decorated with plants and lights for this special occasion.

The joy and celebration spelled hard work for some with the square's sanitation workers out in force to cope with the vast amount of garbage left by visitors. Four hundred sanitation workers from the municipal sanitation department worked around the clock to clean up more than 220 tons of garbage, including plastic bags, newspapers, food and drink containers and camera film boxes, much of it, left by people who stay overnight at the Square for the national flag raising ceremony.

"On October 1 alone, our sanitation workers swept up 39.8 tons of garbage," a sanitation official said, "and they collected and moved another 39.5 tons the next day."

Apart from Tian'anmen Square, major parks in Beijing received 2.66 million visitors from October 1 to 7, 60,000 people more than the same period last year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)