China sees double-digit rise in National Day holiday tourism revenue

Tourists visit the Huangguoshu waterfall in Anshun City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 2, 2017. From Oct. 1 to 8, the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, around 710 million tourist trips will be made across China, according to predictions by China National Tourism Administration. (Xinhua/Chen Xi)

A rise of more than 10 percent year on year in tourism revenue has been reported in first two days of China's National Day holiday by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

Some 114 million tourists spent 94 billion yuan (about 9.7 billion U.S. dollars) on Monday alone, up 9.9 percent and 10.9 percent respectively over the same day of last year, said a statement released by CNTA on Monday.

The previous day, tourism income of 96.5 billion yuan (14.5 billion U.S. dollars) was posted, up 12.2 percent year on year, by 113 million domestic tourists, up 10.5 percent year on year.

Most vacationers have chosen to indulge themselves in folk customs, food, cultural and rural tourism this year. Theme parks, museums and leisure streets have also seen an obvious growth in the number of visitors, according to the CNTA.

One of China's two "Golden Weeks", the National Day holiday often sees a surge in passenger flow, tourism revenue and retail sales. This year it has been extended by one more day as the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Oct.4.

Possibly because the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for families to get together, travel demand appears to be stronger this year.

China Railway Corporation said on Monday that more than 15 million trips were made on Sunday, the first day of the eight-day holiday, a new record high compared to 14.4 million trips made on the same day last year.

The company expects another 12 million trips to be made on Monday.

With millions of people heading home or to tourist resorts, traffic jams have been reported in many parts of the country.

Nearly a thousand passengers missed their planes due to traffic jam on the airport expressway Sunday, according to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Passengers are advised to take subway to go to the airport.

China Southern Airlines, based in Guangzhou, has added 160 extra flights, with 14,000 flights expected during the holiday.

In east China's Jiangsu Province, police use 80 drones in traffic surveillance. Around 1,000 patrol cars equipped with video transmission systems receive real-time information sent by the drones.

The drones had helped clear 52 minor road accidents by 4 p.m. Sunday, according to the provincial public security department.

A survey by China Tourism Academy and Ctrip, an online travel agency, showed that major tourist destinations are expected to receive a total of 590 million visitors during the holiday, up 12 percent from last year.

Tourism income is expected to rise by 13.5 percent to 478 billion yuan (about 74 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, said the survey.