Tourism market flourishes amid ‘super’ Golden Week holiday

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China’s "Golden Week" has entered its seventh day out of an eight-day public holiday. It is the year's longest break, as Mid-Autumn Festival happens to coincide with the National Day holiday. China’s tourism authority has predicted over 700 million tourist trips this year - a 10 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

The China National Tourism Administration says in the first six days, more than 620 million tourist trips had been recorded across the country. Domestic tourists spent more than 500 billion yuan (about 80 billion US dollars) during that period.

Special steps taken to cope with transport pressure

The great number of tourists in such a short period of time have put significant pressure on some popular tourist sites, including the Forbidden City in Beijing and Huangshan Mountain in eastern Anhui Province. China has taken special steps to cope with the pressure on the transport system by increasing trains in service and suspending highway toll charges. Long vehicle queues were seen at many expressways' toll gates at the start of the holiday as a result of the no-charge policy for small cars during the week.

China Railway launches its 11-day special service for the Golden Week holiday on September 28. More than 130 million passenger trips are expected during the longest break of the year. /China Railway Photo

Chinese railways set a record in daily passenger traffic as more than 15 million trips were made on the National Day on Sunday. The Ministry of Transport predicts 130 million rail trips for the entire holiday travel season. In addition, 560 million road trips and 16 million trips by water are expected. Over 13 million trips are expected by air, an increase of 14 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, more than 6 million Chinese tourists are visiting Thailand, Japan, and the US, the top three most popular overseas travel destinations for Chinese during the long break. South Korea, the most popular destination for Chinese tourists last year, has dropped out of the top 10 this year. Experts say the decline could be well attributed to the deployment of the US THAAD missile systems in South Korea.

Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports estimates that 260,000 Chinese tourists travel in the country during the golden week period, resulting in tourist revenue of 21 billion baht (over 620 million US dollars). /Thai PBS Photo

Cold front to bring chilly weather over the weekend

A cold front is expected to send temperatures plummeting in many parts of China, with more chilly weather expected over the weekend. National Meteorological Center says, in some areas, the temperature will drop by 12 degrees Celsius. Heavy snow and blizzards are expected in northwestern Xinjiang, while torrential rains will hit coastal regions in southern China in the coming two days.

As a cold wave from Siberia sweeps down to northwest China, many parts on Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region welcome the first snowfall. /China News Service Photo

Residents in the north should also brace for more smog starting from Friday. The PM 2.5 reading for Beijing has stayed over 100 for two days, indicating slight air pollution. But the arrival of the cold front is expected help disperse the smog on Monday.