Yet the holiday travel forecast system has helped people avoid blindly crowd into some places. The Forbidden City, a leading tourist attraction opposite to Tian'anmen Square, received some 77, 500 visitors Tuesday, eight percent less than that on October 2, which was 84,000.

The figure was one-third fewer than the record number of 120, 000 visitors on May 2, this year when Chinese people enjoyed a week-long holiday.

The Badaling Section of the Great Wall in northern Beijing received 39,500 visitors yesterday, falling far short of the number of 60,000 visitors on an average weekend.

Beijing has imposed a temporary traffic control over the Beijing-Badaling highway to avoid possible traffic jam as happened during the May Day holidays.

However, the ban was virtually lifted yesterday as the road was far from crowded, according to the China Daily.

The situation is being blamed on people's reluctance to go out for fear of getting caught in traffic jams.

China has reported of 46 million travelers across the country during the May Day holidays. Almost all scenic spots were filled with people. Complaints from tourists sharply increased soon after the holiday ended.

The how-do-you-do hastened establishment of holiday travel forecast at national, provincial and city levels.

Hotels, travel agencies, railway stations, and airports which joined in the forecast system, reported daily about room renting, ticket booking, and other travel-related issues to the forecast headquarters which will make the final result public via media.

Such travel forecast system has commenced operation in Beijing, Shanghai, central China's Hubei Province, southwest China's Yunnan Province, east China's Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces ahead of the ongoing National Day holidays.

Some experts said that the forecast system helps both tourists and tourists attraction in branching off travelers, improving service quality, and upgrading popularity of some newly developed scenic spots.

Some others noted that it was difficult for the forecast system to report accurately due to lack of reliable guide for analyses. Besides, uncertain factors could affect the accuracy of the forecast.

(Xinhua 10/05/2000)