Tourism and service sectors across China are busy preparing for the week-long peak holiday season around the International Labor Day on May 1. The Shanghai Municipal Tourism Commission is providing Chinese and foreign visitors with five tours which take in parks, exhibition centers, suburban scenic spots and particular streets.

East China's Shandong Province will hold folk culture festivalsin Jinan, Qingdao, Tai'an, Weifang and Qufu cities and flower shows will be held in Rizhao, Laizhou, Feicheng and Qingdao cities.

To make Shandong more attractive, many cities have spruced up existing scenic spots, expanded park areas and initiate new programs at parks during the holiday period.

The China Northern Airlines is to put an additional 409 flights to such scenic spots like Kunming, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Yantai, Qingdao, Guilin, Mianyang, Lanzhou, Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and Bangkok between April 28 and May 8.

Estimating the number of holiday-goers at 4.19 million in the period between April 28 and May 7, the Guangzhou Railway Group has arranged 12 special trains between large cities and scenic spots

such as from Changsha to Kunming, from Shenzhen to Mount Huangshan and Huaihua to Qingdao.

East China's Zhejiang Province has introduced a number of special tours such as visits to the Qiandao (one thousand islands) Lake, Tianmushan Forest and the fishing villages at Putuo Mountain for holiday-goers. A provincial tourist official has predicted there will be 5 million visitors to Zhejiang.

The Transport Department in northeast China's Liaoning Province has added 4,000 buses to the number already running to the five leading cities including Shenyang, Dalian, Anshan and Benxi to cope with growing tourists during the week-long holiday.

The Shenyang Railway Bureau has decided to increase the number of trains to Beijing, Nanjing and Hankou cities.

( People's Daily April 27, 2002)