Scenic spots across China are striving to attract more visitors for the upcoming eight-day National Day holiday, with more than 500 exempting or reducing ticket prices.

The first super long holiday since the coronavirus epidemic will arrive on October 1. Traditionally seen as tourism's golden week, the holiday has become even more cherished by industry participants who were hard hit during the virus outbreak.

The Altay region in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region rebooted tourism after a new round of COVID-19 cases withered in the region's capital city Urumqi in August. A total of 32 A-level scenic spots have exempted ticket fees, including the Kanas Lake scenic area and Koktokay National Geopark, from September 6 to November 10.

The ancient city Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has also suspended entrance fees for 53 A-level scenic spots, including the City Wall and the Tang Paradise, an incentive spanning the summer vacation and the National Day holiday.

Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province boasts many classic Chinese gardens listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Since August, the city has rolled out one million tickets valued at just 1 yuan (0.15 U.S. dollars) for 14 renowned gardens, such as the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lion Grove Garden.

Other regions that offer free or reduced ticket fees include Hubei, Shanxi, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, as well as the tourist city Qingdao, in east China.

Western regions become hot tourist destinations

Since this year's National Day holiday is longer than the usual one week and the epidmic has restrained overseas tourists, people tend to choose domestic long-haul journeys. That makes such regions as Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Guizhou hot tourist destinations.

According to data from Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, the number of searches on travels in northwestern regions increased by 475 percent over last year. Lanzhou, capital of northwestern Gansu Province, even made it among the top four most-searched cities.

Free tickets bring more benefit

With free or reduced-free entry, tourist numbers have increased. Beijing Daily reported that after 12 scenic spots in Qingdao exempted ticket fees in August, 864, 800 visitors were recorded in a month, among whom 474,000 went to the Laoshan Mountain scenic area, an increase by 73.63 percent.

Consumption spending on catering, accommodation, transport and shopping rose. "The number of tourists taking boats increased significantly," said a staffer at Laoshan Mountain scenic area.