About 2.41 million tourists traveled to Shanghai during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, an increase of 1 percent from the same period last year, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission.

During the festival, 28,346 local people traveled abroad, rising 5.68 percent from last year.

The city's income from tourism during the holiday was 1.76 billion yuan (US$212 million), an increase of more than 10 percent from last year.

Instead of visiting outdoor scenic sites like parks, suburban campsites and ancient towns, more tourists chose to go to museums and other indoor amusement venues due to the rain, according to the commission.

A total of 980,000 people, 3 percent more than last year, visited 60 indoor scenic sites in the city, of which the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and Shanghai Museum were the most popular.

Local sites related to the history of the Chinese Communist Party were also busy over the holiday, the commission said. A large number of people passed up traditional group tours to travel independently to cities in nearby provinces this year.

(Shanghai Daily February 17, 2005)