Shanghai saw an 8.2 percent rise in tourists during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday compared with last year, with folk culture activities across the city attracting big crowds, tourism authorities said yesterday.

Some 3.62 million tourists visited Shanghai during the holiday, generating revenue of 3.57 billion yuan (US$576 million), up 1 percent, the Shanghai Tourism Administration said.

The Bund, Yuyuan Garden, Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall and Xujiahui received about 17 million visits during the holiday, while 120 tourist attractions monitored by the administration reported an 18 percent increase in tourists from last year.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower had 142,000 visitors, up 4 percent; Shanghai Wildlife Park had 96,000, up 164 percent; and the Oriental Land park had 25,000, an increase of 146 percent.

The Hongqiao and Pudong international airports received 313,000 and 255,000 passengers respectively between January 30 and February 5, up 20 percent and 6.2 percent.

More than 58,000 tourists in tour groups organized by travel agencies in the city headed for foreign destinations or to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan for the holiday, a rise of 12 percent, the administration said.

Bad weather pushed up the number of complaints about flight delays or schedules but in total there were only 101 holiday-related complaints, the administration said, and 80 of those were the result of adverse weather conditions.

The remainder were about hotels, scenic spots and unlicensed tour packages.