Half the lawns in Prince Bay Park on the shores of Hangzhou's famous West Lake have been trampled bare in less than a month since the 10 yuan admission fee was abolished on March 20, according to park managers.
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Park managers say half the lawns in Prince Bay Park around the West Lake – "the most beautiful garden" in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province – have been trampled bare since free admission was introduced on March 20, 2009.
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Prince Bay Park is named after two princes who were buried here during the southern Song Dynasty. In spite of its small size, the park is one of the most popular in China and is especially famous for its many species of tulips.
When the Prince Bay scenic spot reopened on March 20 after a six-month renovation period, it was overwhelmed by swarms of visitors well beyond the capacity of the park, which is only about the size of three football pitches.
Park managers say they used to see, on average, 500 visitors a day before the renovation. When the park reopened with free admission the number of tourists skyrocketed – with up to 90,000 visiting in a single day – as many people as pass through Hangzhou Railway Station during the Spring Festival peak travel season. .
"It is more like a train station than a park," said a cleaner. "Everywhere is crowded with people and it takes days to clear up the garbage they leave behind."
The park activates an emergency plan if the number of visitors exceeds 11,000; but more than 200,000 visited during the three-day Tomb-sweeping Festival, said Feng Gang, director of the Hangzhou Garden and Cultural Relics Bureau. Half the lawns were trampled bare and many flowerbeds were destroyed.
Only three weeks after being re-opened the park will have to be renovated again.
Prince Bay Park is the last scenic area around the West Lake to abolish admission fees. More than 60 scenic spots in the area have already cancelled admission fees since the policy of "returning the lake to the public" was announced in 2002.
The experience at Prince Bay Park raises the dilemma that greater public access to scenic areas can hamper conservation efforts.
Some people also say free admission to areas around the West Lake is depressing the tourist business in other districts. Others counter that, as other attractions reduce or abolish fees, pressure on the Lake will be reduced. The experience certainly demonstrates that there is a pent-up desire to visit tourist areas that is being held in check by high ticket prices.
