Persistent rain kept many people at home over the National Day holiday, and the number of visitors to various sites declined.

The city received 3.87 million tourists during the past week, down 2.84 percent year-on-year. However, the total tourism revenue increased by 7.80 percent, reaching 2.5 billion yuan (US$308.64 million) in the week, official statistics showed.

Reflecting the rainy weather, the number of visitors to major scenic spots decreased during the week-long holiday, according to the Shanghai Holiday Tourism Office.

Except for a slight increase in visitors on October 2, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Century Park and Shanghai Wild Animal Park had fewer visitors year-on-year during the rest of the week.

The number of visitors to Pudong's Century Park declined by 83 percent on October 5, compared with the same day last year.

Overall, the number of visitors dropped by half, according to Wang Mengqing with the Shanghai Century Park Management Co Ltd.

"The rainy days kept locals staying home, as the majority of visitors were from other provinces," said Wang.

However, indoor sites, such as the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, had more visitors than the same period last year, ranging from 20 to 40 percent.

Nearly 70,000 overseas tourists arrived in Shanghai during the week, including 14,000 people from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Meanwhile, almost 40,000 local tourists left for other countries.

About 126,000 tourists visited suburban areas and nearby provinces, a 14 percent year-on-year drop, said the Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center.

Oriental land, Zhou Zhuang in Jiangsu Province, and Wu Zhen in Zhejiang Province are the three most frequently visited spots.

The hotel room occupancy rate remained steady at 70 percent during the week.

More than 280,000 people traveled in and out of Pudong International Airport, an increase of 12 percent over the same period last year.

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2005)