City attractions welcome holiday visitors under new policies
Visitors enjoy nature at Shanghai Oriental Land on Friday.
Tourists have their temperatures checked.
Visitors enjoy nature at Shanghai Oriental Land on Friday.
Shanghai's tourist attractions maintained good order on Friday, the first day of the five-day Labor Day holiday as well as the first day when a compulsory reservation-for-admission order took effect.
All A-level tourist attractions in the city have been ordered to implement mandatory reservation policies during the May Day holiday to control crowds and prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Shanghai Culture and Tourism Administration announced on Tuesday.
Those who fail to make reservations will not be allowed entry, the administration explained.
Shanghai Oriental Land in Qingpu District opened four gates on Friday to cope with an increasing number of visitors. Usually just one gate is open.
"The aim is to disperse the visitor flow amid the coronavirus disease pandemic. Gate 1 mainly receives visitors taking the subway because it is close to a Metro station, while tourists driving cars will be guided to other gates," said Huang Ying, deputy director of Oriental Land Management Co Ltd.
The park offers three channels for reservation: its official website and WeChat account, the Visit Shanghai app, and online travel booking platforms.
Friday's reservations reached 8,700 as of noon, compared with 3,000 to 5,000 on normal days, according to Huang.
About 4,400 people had turned up as of 12pm.
"The epidemic has changed people's traditional way of travel and raised their awareness of reservations," Huang said.
"They feel at ease about coming after making a reservation," he said. "They can check information about tourist attractions before their visits, which ensures a better travel experience for them while also improving efficiency for operators at the same time."
"A safe and pleasant journey is the priority," he added.
Visitors ride a paddle boat at Shanghai Oriental Land on Friday.
The tourist attraction has capped daily visitors to 33,000, or 30 percent of maximum capacity, to prevent crowding.
"When the visitor count reaches 25 percent of our capacity, we will issue an alert and remind visitors to avoid peak travel times via various means like WeChat," said Huang.
"We opened half an hour earlier than usual today to cope with the rising number of visitors," he said.
The number of admissions is displayed on electronic screens inside the park and visitors are informed to follow marked routes.
"We host a variety of activities in different areas of the park to disperse visitors and have moved entertainment items to areas with fewer people," he said.
"We will also inform visitors of other tour options near the park such as Qingxi Countryside Park and Shanghai Grandview Garden to disperse traffic once the number of visitors approaches maximum capacity," said Huang.
"The number of inspectors and frequency of patrols have been beefed up to prevent gathering," he said.
Chen Yunfan, a local mother, visited the park with her two daughters on Friday.
"We left home at 8am and come here to breathe some fresh air and embrace nature as my daughters have been kept at home for a long time," Chen told Shanghai Daily.
The family lives in Qingpu District.
"We don't want to travel far as the epidemic has not ended," she said.
Visitors to the park will undergo two temperature checks.
Those with temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius will be sent to a temporary observation site.
"We will ask them to have a rest for a couple of minutes and then measure their temperature again because they may arrive in a hurry, which could push up their temperature," said Huang.
The travel peak of the holiday is expected on Saturday due to better weather, Huang said.
"We remind visitors to check the real-time number of visitors online before their visits," Huang said.
Visitors have their temperatures checked at Shanghai Botanical Garden on Friday.
Visitors present a reservation code for entry at Shanghai Botanical Garden on Friday.
