Smaller cities, scientific projects become new tourist magnets during May Day holiday

Tourists across China have enjoyed an array of cultural events, from traditional to modern, and discovered fresh destinations during this year's five-day May Day holiday.

Items on China's traditional intangible cultural heritage list proved to be popular with travelers in many regions. In Lantian county, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, tourists were wowed by the art of Dawaz, which means aerial tightrope walking in the Uygur language.

Meanwhile, in east China's Changzhou City, music festivals attracted throngs of travelers, and local authorities introduced measures to ensure the comfort of visitors. They arranged 500 coaches for long-distance travel, set up more than 10,000 free parking spaces and extended the operation hours of the subway network until 11:30 p.m.

And it's not just big cities that drew in visitors during this holiday. Holidaymakers decided to go for natural views, less-crowded scenic spots, and cost-effective travel experiences. Data from Chinese travel booking platform Ctrip showed that orders for fourth-tier and below cities increased by 140 percent on a yearly basis, outperforming those in first and second-tier cities.

Xia Ye and Yao Liu, who are in their 30s and live in Beijing, settled on Zhangjiakou City in north China's Hebei Province. They say they chose Chongli District because of its woodland walkways and lush forests, which offer a quieter and more relaxing experience.

Small and medium-sized cities, towns and key villages in developed areas are emerging as new tourist destinations, said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy.

Wu Sa, deputy director of the Economic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, expressed belief that the popularity of usual major destinations like Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Chengdu is not decreasing, but explained that a good number of travelers are looking to diversify the scope of their travels, towards new and previously lesser known places.

Medium and long-distance tourism dominated this May Day holiday, he noted, adding that domestic long-distance travel orders accounted for more than 50 percent of the total.

Scientific and space projects have also been a hit travel destination this week, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China to the world's largest single-dish radio telescope in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

In the first three days of the holiday, the scenic spot housing the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) received an estimated daily average of about 12,000 tourists.

"I mainly wanted to take my child to appreciate some of China's leading space technology and the development trend of big data, so that he can understand the advanced technology of our motherland," said a tourist named Hu Wanping.