National Day holiday attracts record number of tourists
Tourists enjoying the Bund during the National Day holiday.
The 135 major tourism spots around Shanghai welcomed some 950,000 tourists in the first six days of the National Day holiday, an eight percent increase over last year.
Shanghai Wild Animal Park and Shanghai Science and Technology Museum were among the most popular destinations during the holiday, according to the city's tourism bureau.
Some of the highlights of the holiday included Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden's flower and fruit exhibition, during which plant experts would lead family visitors touring the garden, and a food festival which gathered five Michelin chefs from Europe at Xuhui District’s Binjiang area, as well as cuisine provided by consulates in Shanghai and some 50 local restaurants.
The 2017 Shanghai Tourism Festival, which closed its curtains at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower on Friday evening, received around 12.15 million visitors during the 28-day event.
More than 60 popular tourism spots, including the landmarks of Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center, provided 50 percent discount tickets for visitors for one week during the festival. Shanghai Disney Resort also took part in the discount campaign for the first time.
During the half-price discount promotion, which ran from September 9 to 15, the 64 spots received over 1.3 million visitors, a 9.6 percent increase compared to last year.
Saturday marks the second to last day of the eight-day National Day holiday, which is also peak time for those leaving for home. According to the Shanghai Railway Bureau, 189 trains were added to meet passenger demand including those connecting Shanghai to Zhengzhou, Nanchang, Fuzhou and Guangzhou.
The three major railway stations in Shanghai farewelled a total of 2.4 million passengers on Saturday.
