Chinese travel agencies have cancelled 10,000 domestic tour
groups as many vacationers settled for local parks and tourism
sites amidst the lingering freeze that has snarled central,
southern and eastern China since early January.
Wang Zhifa, deputy chief of the National Tourism Administration
(NTA), attributed the cancellation to "inconvenient transport"
following road and railway breakdowns and the closure of airports
ahead of the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year that fell
on Feb. 7 this year.
The administration has issued six emergency notices in nearly
two weeks, calling on the public not to travel too far from their
homes while travel agencies were encouraged to provide short-range
or local traveling packages.
The administration advised against traveling to the 19 snow-hit
provinces and autonomous regions in the country.
The disaster relief and emergency command center under the State
Council said some icy roads in southwestern Yunnan Province and
central Hunan Province remained partially closed to traffic by
Friday.
Destroyed transmission wires are still under repair. Rail, road
and air transport in other regions have been going on smoothly.
Zhang Lingjie, deputy general manager with the Domestic Tourism
Department of the China Travel Service Head Office, said the snow
havoc sent a big chill over the Spring Festival tourism which
otherwise would have experienced a boom as the scrap of the year's
so-called "Golden Week" Labor Day Holiday had stimulated many
Chinese to advance their vacation plans.
About 50 percent of Beijing tourists for instance have cancelled
their vacation plans to southern China, Zhang said, adding that
travel agencies were estimated to earn 70 percent less from
long-range domestic tours this Spring Festival than last year's
same period.
A good news from the coordination office for national holiday
tourism under the NTA, however, is the prevalence of temple fairs
and other celebrations featuring folklore and custom.
Tourists to Beijing's Yonghegong Lamasery are four times as many
as its daily average while lantern riddle festivals in Shanghai
aroused hurrahs.
The Central Meteorological Station forecast Saturday light or
moderate snow for northeastern part of the Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region and central and northern part of Heilongjiang
Province between Sunday and Monday.
Heavy snow or even blizzards were expected to come in the next
three days in parts of Tibet Autonomous Region, and provinces of
Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan. Sleet and icy rains are possible in
most part of southwestern Guizhou Province.
(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2008)