HANGZHOU -- From the conception of the idea to the final setting of the date, the National Tourism Day has fired up widespread public discussion in China's cyber space.

Nearly one million internet users have been reportedly involved in the central government's decision-making process concerning the creation of the day.

The decision to establish the day was first floated in 2009, which was followed by a three-week online survey jointly launched by the newspaper China Tourism and the Tsinghua University to solicit public opinion on whether it is necessary to create the day.

Among the 1,204 online feedbacks, 78 percent of those who took the questionnaire supported the idea of establishing the day, arguing that the festival can help boost China's tourism and invite more people to enjoy traveling. Only 10 percent of them voted against the proposal.

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Gao Shunli, deputy chief editor of China Tourism, said, without the widespread public support on the internet, the idea of setting the National Tourism Day may never have come into reality.

Later, an opinion poll to determine the exact date of the day was set up on Sina.com, China's largest internet portal. More than ten dates were nominated for the day.

Continuing from December 2009 to January 20, 2010, the poll saw nearly one million netizens respond to questions. Three dates entered the final round of the contest, according to the public votes online.

The finals included March 29, the day when the great ancient Chinese traveler and geographer Xu Xiake started his 30 years' of travel around the country; May 19, the day when Xu started writing his famous travel book "Travel Notes of Xu Xiake"; and May 20, the day when Xu arrived at the first destination of his trip, the Tiantai Mountain.

The promoters of the three dates, Jiangyin City in east China' s Jiangsu province, Ninghai county and Tiantai county in east China's Zhejiang province, battled to gain support for their proposals over the internet.

The government of Ninghai County opened several columns on the nhnews.com, the local government website, to promote May 19 to netizens, said Wang Jianyun, chief publicity official of Ninghai.

During the annual "two sessions" in March 2011, Chen Tiexiong, chief of Taizhou municipal committee of the Communist Party of China advocated May 20 to netizens through the website people.com. The city of Taizhou has jurisdiction over the Tiantai County.

After taking into consideration the opinions of experts, government officials and internet users, the National Tourism Administration of China (CNTA) finally set the National Tourism Day of China for May 19 every year.

Chu Yinliang, head of Ninghai county government, views the netizens' influence on the setting of the day as a sign of improved democracy.

Chu said, never before in history, had government decisions concerning a public festival involved such great grassroots participation.

Lin Guogan, a publicity official of the government of Tiantai County, believes there is also a cultural dimension in the significance of the online sensation over the tourism day.

Many netizens joined the online discussions about the cultural connotation of the tourism day, besides participating in the opinion polls, which has helped them foster a deeper understanding of the traditional culture, Lin said.