Shanghai receives 10.38m visitors

SHANGHAI received a record 10.38 million visitors during the weeklong National Day holiday, an increase of 12 percent from the same period of last year, the city’s tourism authority said yesterday.

The increase was largely due to the pleasant weather and a variety of tourism-related activities citywide, the Shanghai Tourism Administration said.

Tourism-related revenue touched 10.29 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion), which was an increase of 11.4 percent. The average spending of travelers staying overnight was 1,091 yuan per person daily, a rise of 6.6 percent from a year earlier.

Shopping accounted for 34 percent of the revenue, and outof-town tourists spent 6.4 billion yuan in the city during the holiday, up 11.25 percent.

The occupancy rate of the hotels was 59 percent.

Shanghai residents spent 9.75 billion yuan in the city between October 1 and 5.

There was a significant drop of outbound tourists from Shanghai during the holiday.

The Bund and Lujiazui areas were among the most popular attractions, welcoming 3.08 million and 2.83 million visitors, respectively — a jump of 73.06 percent and 105 percent from the same period of last year.

There was increased activity along the 45-kilometer Huangpu riverfront, with 411 Huangpu River cruise tours drawing 121,000 tourists, a rise of 19.4 percent year on year, according to the administration.

“The tour reminds me of a bygone era when I dated with my wife here four decades ago,” said a local retiree Liu Guiyun, who took a river tour from the renovated No. 3 Cruise Dock at Shiliupu Pier.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower received 168,600 visitors, a rise of 20 percent, while the 118-floor sightseeing observatory of Shanghai Tower had 57,700 people, an increase of 5.1 percent.

“The weather is beautiful, the city’s development vast, and its landscape charming,” said Yao Huilan from neighboring Jiangsu Province.

“Red tourism” was also gaining in popularity, with the Site of the 1st National Congress of the Communist Party of China receiving 48,300 visitors, a rise of 32 percent, and 22,000 visiting the Longhua Martyrs’ Cemetery, a rise of 19.5 percent.

“The holiday is also a time to remember the past and the contribution of those who sacrificed for our present,” said Chen Shuang, a local retired teacher at the Site of the 1st CPC National Congress.

The Shanghai Wild Animal Park received 311,300 visitors, up 38 percent, while the Shanghai Happy Valley had 141,000. The Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone welcomed 401,000 tourists. The Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park, which started trial operation on October 1, received about 30,000 people.

The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and Shanghai Natural History Museum had 322,800 people in total, up 18.8 percent. A total of 326,500 people flocked to the Zhujiajiao watertown, a rise of 17 percent.

However, the Fengjing Ancient Town and Shanghai Ocean Aquarium reported a drop of 7 percent and 5 percent.

The accelerated integration of tourism development in the Yangtze River Delta region contributed to a booming market, with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces the top three sources of tourism in Shanghai, followed by Beijing and Guangdong, the administration said.

Wuxi, Zhouzhuang and Ningbo were the top five destinations for tourists from the Shanghai Tourist Bus Center.

There were 51 tourism-related complaints, a drop of 54.5 percent, according to the city’s 962020 tourism hotline. Cancelations of organized group tours were the top complaints.

Blessed by balmy weather and interactive activities such as flower exhibitions, forest carnival and beer festival, parks across the city received 6.52 million visitors, the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said.

Shanghai was spruced up with flowers for the holiday, which added a splash of color and festive atmosphere, the bureau said.

Flowerbeds and flower landscapes of around 184,000 square meters were arranged across the city during the holiday.

The city handled 123,000 tons of domestic garbage during the holiday, dropping 7.92 percent from the same period of last year, according to the bureau.

The pleasant weather during the holiday period meant that the city’s expressways were a lot busier than the same period of last year. The daily average number of cars on the expressways from October 1 to 6 was 1.35 million, the Shanghai Road Administration Bureau revealed. Last year, it was about 1.25 million.

The peak periods were on the first day and the last two days of the holiday.

Yesterday afternoon, traffic moved smoothly except around the Jialiu Viaduct on the G15 Expressway where vehicles lined up for up to 6km.

The busiest expressway was the G40 heading toward the Chongming Island and Qidong City in Jiangsu Province, especially at the Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge, and Chenhai Highway, the bureau said.