Parks and scenic spots pull in the holiday crowds

Updated: 2015-04-06 20:20

By Cao Yin(chinadaily.com.cn)

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Visitors flocked to scenic spots and parks in Beijing during the three-day holiday break, lured by a variety of activities.

Eleven parks in the capital welcomed floods of visitors on Sunday — Tomb Sweeping Day. More than 1.24 million visits were recorded on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

Falling temperatures and strong winds in the city over the holiday failed to deter park visitors, the commission said.

In Xicheng district, Taoranting Park staged a cultural festival with the theme Chinese crabapple flowers.

At Grand View Park, a replica of the Daguanyuan garden in the Chinese novel A Dream of Red Mansion by Qing Dynasty writer Cao Xueqin (1715-1763) also proved popular.

In Pinggu district, star international pianist Lang Lang performed at the opening ceremony of a music festival.

Activities on offer increased the number of visitors in different districts and boosted local authority finances.

For example, in Haidian district there were 671,300 visits during the holiday, netting more than 8.42 million yuan ($1.35 million) for the district.

The toll-free holiday policy on major highways also saw a marked increase in the number of cars on the roads.

About 6.15 million vehicles used expressways in Beijing, a 10.3 percent rise year-on-year, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.

Travelers also flocked to other popular scenic spots in the country, including Tianjin and Xiamen in Fujian province.

The tourism commission in Tianjin said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of holiday travelers from Beijing and Hebei province.

The number of visits to major scenic spots in the municipality reached 447,000, a 13.9 percent year-on-year increase.

According to Ctrip, the nation's largest travel agency, there was a heavy increase in the number of tourists visiting Xiamen over the holiday.

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