Chinese tourist destinations see record holiday visitors

BEIJING - China's main tourist destinations welcomed record numbers of visitors during the long weekend for May Day.

A total of 1.58 million visits were recorded Saturday to Monday at 26 monitored tourist attractions in Hubei Province, up 12.18 percent year on year, while the number of visitors to Chengdu in southwest China surpassed 8.2 million, up 6.2 percent year on year, according to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

In Beijing, the number of visits to 11 monitored parks and a garden museum on the second day of the holiday hit a single-day record of 750,000, according to the city's park management center.

The Beijing Zoo, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace were the most popular spots in the city.

The number of domestic and overseas tourists in Shaanxi Province during the three-day holiday hit a record 20.89 million, up 29.21 percent year on year, generating about 8.5 billion yuan in revenue ($1.3 billion), up 30.83 percent year on year, according to the provincial government.

In Shandong, the number of tourists surpassed 30 million for the first time, up 11.3 percent year on year. Tourist income reached 24.38 billion yuan, up 15.2 percent year on year, according to provincial tourist authorities.

The southern Chinese city of Sanya saw 128,600 visitors, with those from abroad up 52.11 percent year on year, according to the city's tourist authority.

Sanya, Xiamen and Kunming were the top three tourist destinations in China during the holiday, said the CNTA on its website.