Travelers pour into Shanghai city
1.About 2.5 million tourists visited Shanghai during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday that ended yesterday, up 3.8 percent from last year, Wenhui Daily reported today.
The city's income from tourism during the holiday was 1.9 billion yuan (US$235 million), an increase of 7.4 percent from a year earlier.
The Yuyuan Garden, a historic area of pavilions, pagodas, rockeries and fountains arranged in a traditional Chinese way, hosted 1.76 million tourists with its festival custom exhibition, and many tourists visited a new "icy world" near Longhua Temple, where visitors can view ice replicas of some of the world's most famous buildings, sculptures and historical sites.
The city's landmark Oriental Pearl TV Tower was still a popular place for tourists, hosting about 104,000 tourists during the festival.
About 2.4 million people traveled to the city's parks, nearly doubling last year's.
A large number of people passed up traditional group tours to travel independently to cities in nearby provinces this year. (Editor: Yang Lei)
2.Hundreds of thousands of visitors have poured into Shanghai to sample the sights of the city since the Lunar New Year holiday began on Sunday.
The Shanghai Railway Station received 240,000 travelers on Sunday and Monday - up 20 percent from the same period last year.
Many went bargain hunting at the city's many shopping malls, and many others took advantage of Shanghai 's cultural offerings.
During the first three days of Spring Festival, 1.45 million people visited the main tourist sites, a 10 percent increase from last year.
Most visitors seemed satisfied with their experiences. The city's tourist hot line (962020) received close to 1,000 complaints from Sunday to Tuesday, which was the lowest number in the past few years, according to the tourism authority.
Trips to Shanghai 's countryside were among the newest options for the visitors and for locals who stayed in town for the week-long break.
Five country resorts opened to the public - part of China's "countryside tourism" theme for this year.
The five spots, all designated national model sites, are in Fengxian District, Chongming Island and Pudong New Area. The tours kicked off on Tuesday when the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Commission sent the first 300 visitors to the Shanghai Shenlong Ecology Garden in Fengxian District. The group visited farm houses and enjoyed traditional country cooking.
The other country resorts - all featuring natural areas, hotels and a glimpse of farm life - are Qianwei Village, Yingdong Village and the Dongping Area on Chongming Island and the Sunqiao Modern Agriculture Garden in Pudong.
Tourists can visit close to 40 sights among the resorts. Tickets are available at the Shanghai Stadium travel center.
(Editor: Du Jing)
From GOV.cn
