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 | Tuesday, April 25, 2000, updated at 09:24(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Holidays Boon for Airlines, RailwaysThe travel craze sweeping over most Chinese cities has turned the coming holidays of Labour Day into "Tourism Day", according to report of China Daily on April 24.Although there is a week left, it is difficult for people to book a seat in popular tour groups organized by travel services in Beijing and other major cities. The travel services complained about the fewer number of tickets discounted by airlines and had to convert some original air travel routes to trains. "What troubled us is that the domestic airlines have cancelled the 20 or 30 per cent discount off the prices of tickets to the travel agencies in light with usual practice," said Wang Suqi, a manager of Outbound Travel Department of China International Travel Service (CITS). Because of fewer discounted airline tickets, several travel services in Sichuan Province's Chengdu are having to promote routes by trains, such as the routes of Chengdu-Kunming, Chengdu-Guiyang and Chengdu-Chongqing. The railway department has added dozens of special trains for tourists, including those for the routes of Beijing-Huangshan Mountain and Beijing-Taishan Mountain. For instance, Beijing Jingtie International Travel Service will have five such special trains to transport tourists to scenic mountians starting May 1. Beijing Railways Bureau will increase the number of suburban tourism trains to meet the need of the capital's residents trips to nearby spots during the holidays. As the holidays in May expand to seven days this year, more people in urban areas prefer sightseeing to staying at home. At the same time, the tourism industry hopes to promote its business in the fledging "holiday market." During Labour Day last year, Beijing Shenzhou Travel Service (BSTS) only arranged about 300 tourist visits to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, according to Zhu Yongde, manager of the BSTS. But the number of tourists jumped to more than 1,000 this year, including 200 visitors to Australia and New Zealand, Zhu said.
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