The “Golden Week” holiday on the mainland ended yesterday, with a series of “good news” coming in. Driven by the most popular trend of the year — “self-driving tours” — many tourist attractions set new records. For instance, the Forbidden City in Beijing saw a single-day record of 182,000 visitors. Data from the China National Tourism Administration showed that 119 directly reported scenic areas received a total of 34.2456 million visitors, contributing tourism revenue of 1.765 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), with year-on-year growth both exceeding 20%, making it a genuine “golden” week.
Influenced by multiple factors such as the extended holiday due to the back-to-back Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, free tolls on expressways, reduced ticket prices at scenic spots, and sunny weather, the playful online sayings like “more people than bricks on the Great Wall,” “more people than waves in Haining,” and “more people than terracotta warriors in Xi’an” have effectively brought huge tourism benefits to these locales.
Revenue reached 1.765 billion yuan
Data from the China National Tourism Administration showed that during the eight-day holiday from September 30 to October 7, the 119 directly monitored scenic spots across the mainland received a total of 34.2456 million visitors, a 20.96% increase from the previous year; tourism revenue hit 1.765 billion yuan, also growing by a substantial 24.96% year-on-year.
The China National Tourism Administration stated that the most notable trend this year was the “extraordinarily booming” self-driving tourism. With small vehicles exempt from expressway tolls, the number of passenger cars exiting Shanghai on major expressways rose by 70%, self-driving vehicles in Liaoning increased by 80% year-on-year, and in Guizhou, self-driving tourists even accounted for 55% of the total number of visitors. At 4A-level and above scenic spots, over 70% of visitors arrived by private car.
Forbidden City hits single-day 180,000 visitors
Guangdong’s Nanhu International Travel Agency reported that among various Golden Week tourism products, self-driving tour registrations increased by more than 8 times, hitting a historic record of 50,000 participants. The Three Gorges Tourism Company noted that even temporarily added parking spaces were fully occupied, with the Three Gorges Dam scenic area attracting 47,000 visitors on October 3 alone and a total of 224,500 visitors throughout the holiday, both all-time highs.
In Sichuan Province, 21 traditional scenic spots including Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong received a total of 2.344 million visitors, marking a 17.95% increase. The Museum of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, which previously held a single-day record of 70,000 visitors, soared to 100,000 this time, with Xi’an raking in a total of 2.57 billion yuan. However, the biggest spotlight was on the Forbidden City in Beijing, which welcomed 180,000 visitors in a single day. Over the 8-day holiday, it received 707,000 visitors, a 25.5% year-on-year increase. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development reported that during the 8-day holiday, Beijing hosted 13.12 million visitors, with total tourism revenue reaching 8.795 billion yuan, a 29.4% increase from last year.
Interestingly, amid all the positive reports, a sampling survey by district and county commerce commissions and major commercial groups in Shanghai showed that 395 large and medium-sized commercial enterprises across the city generated total revenue of 6.430 billion yuan over the 8-day holiday, a 9.2% year-on-year increase — actually slightly lower than this year’s Spring Festival and Labor Day holidays. It seems Shanghai residents may have gone elsewhere to spend their money.