Chinese cities enjoy tourism boom during National Day holiday

China has seen a tourism boom in the first five days of the week-long National Day holiday, as people seize the opportunity to embrace natural and cultural attractions nationwide.

From Oct 1 to 5, Beijing received 20.5392 million tourists, including 10.8615 million tourists from other Chinese cities and 46,800 inbound tourists. Key scenic spots of the Chinese capital, including the Wangfujing Street, the Temple of Heaven Park, the Summer Palace, Nanluoguxiang, and Badaling Great Wall, were crowded with people during the holiday.

In east China's Jiangxi Province, many tourists choose to climb mountains, or walk into the countryside to feel the charm of nature. In the first five days of the National Day holiday, Sanqingshan Scenic Area, a world natural heritage site in the province's Shangrao City, received more than 600,000 tourists, an increase of 25.6 percent over last year.

"The scenery, stones and mountains are just like traditional Chinese ink paintings, with a particularly beautiful artistic conception," said Liu Hao, a tourist.

While waiting to enter the park at the foot of the mountain, tourists watched the She people's performances with rich ethnic minority style, and the children enthusiastically participated in colorful games.

"Although there are a lot of people, everyone line up in an orderly manner and there are places to sit," said Zou Wenhao, another tourist.

As of Sunday, the total number of visitors to the Mount Taishan, a UNESCO world heritage site in east China's Shandong Province, has exceeded 7 million this year. From Oct. 2 to 5, the number of tourists at the scenic spot exceeded 73,000 per day for four consecutive days, and the number reached a peak of 82,000 on Oct. 3.

Tourists can not only enjoy the beautiful scenery of Mount Taishan, but also taste various delicious food such as Taishan fried chicken and sweet and sour Yellow River carp in the nearby food street.

Chinese cities enjoy tourism boom during National Day holiday

Hong Kong received 980,000 mainland travelers in the first five days of the seven-day National Day holiday, according to the information released by the local immigration department on Sunday.

The number was up 35 percent compared to the same period last year. The first day of the holiday alone saw over 220,000 mainland visitors entering Hong Kong, which was 50,000 more than those on the same day last year.

"School is off during the National Day holiday. We three are all college students, so we figured we should take advantage of the holiday and get our Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao ready. And the three of us came here to stay for a couple of days, to have some fun and learn a bit about Hong Kong's culture and customs," said Lin, a traveler.

"We noticed something quite evident on this trip to Hong Kong: a lot of people are speaking mandarin. There is a huge presence of mainland visitors," said Wu, a traveling companion of Lin.

"Our family live in Shenzhen. This time I am taking my sister to Hong Kong. Hong Kong has changed so much through its development. As we are from Shenzhen, we've been here many times. Particularly around this square, we find so much has changed along the roads leading to the square," said Luo, another mainland traveler.

"It's about five years since the pandemic, and there have been great changes," said Deng, another traveler.

Nearly one million mainland travelers visit Hong Kong during National Day holiday