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China's weeklong National Day holiday, one of the nation's three "golden weeks", has given a resounding boost to the country's tourism industry.
Beijing received 4.32 million visitors during the seven days, 1.8 percent up from last year. Tourism income hit 3.6 billion yuan (US$455 million), according to the municipal vocation office.
Four big attractions -- the Summer Palace, Beijing Zoo, Beihai Park and the Temple of Heaven -- received 16 million visitors.
Amusement parks and the countryside were also major destinations. The newly-opened Happy Valley amusement park was visited by 120,000 people, while western Beijing's Mentougou District with its ancient temples and well-reserved traditional village houses received more than 270,000 visitors with an income of 21.3 million yuan (US$2.67 million).
The first weeklong vocation since the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway brought 11,536 visitors to the Potala Palace in the first six days, including 2,299 from other countries.
The number of passengers going through the Shanghai Railway station hit a record high on Oct. 1, when about 957,000 people traveled by train that day. From Sept. 28 to Oct. 7, the railway station handled 7.12 million passengers. Five additional tourist trains and 716 additional passenger trains were arranged during the holiday.
In south China's Guangdong Province, the Golden Week saw visitors spend 3.2 billion yuan (US$0.39 billion), as the city received 6.55 million visitors, 3.39 percent up from the same time last year.
So-called "red tourism" taking in former revolutionary bases is flourishing. Jiaxing City, in east China's Zhejiang Province, where the Chinese Communist Party was founded, received 60,000 tourists and the Guang'an City, hometown of Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's economic reforms, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, received 360,000 tourists.
Du Chongyang, a tourist from Chongqing Municipality, said in Guang'an, "Many of my friends went to scenic Suzhou and Hangzhou cities in east China, but I'd rather take this chance to give my child a good lesson of patriotism."
(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2006)
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