Tourists visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, April 30, 2023. /CFP
China's cultural tourism sector has been reviving since the end of COVID curbs late last year, and that has led to vast amounts of tourists during the Labor Day holiday.
Cultural sites have seen a record-high travel rush amid excitement over a sharp rebound in tourism in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to big data released by the country's leading telecommunication operator, China Mobile.
Among the eight most popular cultural scenic spots, five were in Beijing, including the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven.
The Summer Palace, China's largest imperial park, was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1998. As early as last Wednesday, its official WeChat account had shown that all tickets for the first four day were fully booked.
Built in 1420, the Temple of Heaven was where emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties worshiped heaven for good harvests, and it was turned into a public park in 1918.
The number of tourist in the two scenic spots were among the top three favorite parks on Monday, with 136,000 and 125,700 visitors respectively, according to the Beijing Municipal Park Administration Center.
Both of the cultural scenic spots have been listed in top ten most visited scenic spots in China, with which the West Lake in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, and the Confucius Temple scenic zone and Zhongshan scenic area in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, ranked top three.
The five-day holiday began on Saturday and will end on Wednesday. China's railway and civil aviation authorities have implemented measures to ensure safety and order for people traveling during the holiday.
According to data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., the number of railway trips nationwide stood at 16.83 million on Monday and is expected to be around 16.45 million on Tuesday, and China's highways and waterway transport network will see a total of 33.2 million passenger trips on the same day.
(With input from Xinhua)
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