Tourism Sees No Slack Season in China

He Guangwei, Chairman of China National Tourism Administration said recently that China' tourism during the Spring Festival saw another peak in the Year of Dragon.

In Hainan Island, the southernmost part of China, the airport admission of tourists alone reached a daily height of more than 30,000. In Harbin, the north China City, an incessant flow of visitors flooded all city hotels and guesthouses. Even Sichuan, one of the remote inland provinces greeted more than 200,000 visitors during the Spring Festival holidays. Main places of interests such as Emei Mountain, the Grand Buddha at Leshan, and the Bamboo Sea in Southern Sichuan have seen crowds of visitors.

According to the briefings of the officials from China National Tourism Administration, all scenic spots across China hosted large number of visitors during the Spring Festival holiday. Tourists thronged in during the New Year Holidays exceeded by far the 28 million arrivals, the record number of the same period last year. Revenue of tourism surpassed by a big margin as against the 14 billion yuan of the same period last year.

Tourism of China traditionally sees an off season in winter. However, it still remains hot in cold weather this year. Even in Tibet, the "roof of the world" where it is extremely cold and lack of oxygen, tourists rushed into the region in high interests. Places like the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple realized a reception of thousands upon thousands of tourists. The new international air-route from Lhasa to Kathmandu was first opened to traffic this winter.

In fact, tourism in China sees no off-season recently. In China, there are five golden seasons for tours in a year, namely the Spring Festival, the 1st of May, the summer holidays, the National Day, and the 1st of January while peak seasons for tours can frequently be seen in China. The tourists received and the income out of tourists both domestic and overseas witnessed a rapid growth last year. The inbound tourists totaled more than 72 million, ranked the fifth in the world.

He Guangwei, the chairman holds that it is due to the growth of income of people, the changes in consuming trend, and especially the rules for prolonged holidays by the State Council offering residents in China to have more time for leisure that caused the rapid growth of China's tourism. Surveys from the 14 major cities in the country show that more than 38 percent of the residents have clear intent to travel abroad, but the proportion is increasing year by year.

Urged by brisk market demand various regions across China have stepped up their efforts in developing local tourism to meet the needs. In recent years, policies and measures have been taken by different provinces, autonomous regions, and cities to encourage the development of tourism in an intensified way. About 20 provinces, autonomous regions and cities all over China have made tourism their pivotal industry. Sichuan province even allocated huge sum of money for inviting experts from the World Tourism Organization to work out plans for the development of local tourism

In order to attract more visitors, authorities in different regions offer different tour items featuring different characteristics and timetables of their own. Shanghai brought out four series itineraries consisting of over 50 tour items featuring sightseeing in gardens and city tours during the Spring Festival. Sichuan Province introduced the journey of ice and snow, tours for smelling flowers, trips to summer resort and for enjoying red leaves based on different characteristics as offered by different seasons.����

Experts say the active changes in tourism market have promised no slack seasons for tourism industry in China.

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