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Mere "Golden Weeks" Bring No Tourism Economy
This year's October 1-7 nationwide "golden week" tourism, compared with last, had been on a somewhat smaller scale for an overlap of the National Day and Mid-autumn Festival on October 1. Statistics show that the number of tourists in some scenic spots had been nearly 50 percent less than their past on October 3-4 because of rainfall and a drop of temperature. Although many attractions had been all out reaping from October 1-7 golden week's tourism, some still feel upset for a bad weather they met. Experts pointed out that the opportunities for bringing about a prospering tourism economy in China exist not merely in a matter of three "golden weeks" arranged.
The seven-day holidays of the Spring Festival, "Labor Day" (May 1st) and "National Day" (October 1st) are called "golden weeks" because of their contribution to a growth of tourism economy and the national economy as well. Under a new policy, people in China today have been enabled to go on countrywide tours during their holidays. Nearly all the six "golden weeks" have since 1999 brought a hot tourism tide and an unprecedented prosperous panorama of China's tourism market. In the golden week of "May 1st" this year alone, the number of travelers had exceeded 70 million person/times, yielding a tourism amount of 28.8 billion yuan.
Targeting on a high tourism gain from golden weeks, some tourism departments and attractions customarily make all-out efforts every year to do a good job of tourism over three golden weeks of time. Accordingly, when every "golden week" approaches, they do a rush job to straighten up the tourism market and take care transportation, facilities and services are improved. When the "golden week" is over, they simply cast their commitments to the consumers behind their back. Measures to improve service facilities, both hardware and software, are left aside to be settled till the next "golden week" comes.
It is rather an idle idea for one to think tourism economy only flourishes in "golden weeks". Though with these there will be a greatly expanded tourism market yet they are transient and absolutely not all. People in China have altogether as many as 110 days off within a year. The three "golden weeks" merely take one third of these including over 80 two-day weekends. Presently most of the railway journeys between large cities have been taken during the evenings, passengers can get on the train on Friday evening and arrive at the destination on Saturday morning. In so doing, they can spend two whole days there. Therefore a two-day weekend is completely suitable for taking medium- or short-distance trips. Meanwhile, aged people prefer to have time off on a leisurely trip in slack season. Since this year began, the peak period has come in advance in some scenic spots such as Jinggangshan in Jiangxi Province. Obviously, by tourism economy is not simply meant a matter of three "golden weeks" holidays but a thing that must be attended to every week.
When tourism peaks merely in every golden week yet remains mean on weekends and other holidays, we can not say the market has been exploited to the full for a tourism economy. It can hardly obtain impressive growth, nor effectively promote domestic demand. So a new subject rises here for related departments: Can tourism forecast-release which works only during golden weeks become a regular one? Can the inspection and straightening work be well done in routine tourism market? Can tourism special trains be open on weekends? Only when the related departments get ready for tourism season at all times instead of a startup at the last minute, can a mature tourism market be developed and a standard and health tourism economic order set up in China.
By PD Online Staff Du Minghua
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