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Olympic venues help draw record visitors

(China Daily/Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-04 08:26

The capital's new attractions, including 2008 Olympic venues such as the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, have helped the number of its visitors during the weeklong National Day vacation to nearly triple from that of the same period last year.

People play with music fountains in front of the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, the main venue of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games October 2, 2008. China is celebrating the week-long National Day holiday starting from September 29. [Xinhua] Click for more photos

Beijing's 21 key scenic spots saw 750,000 tourists on Thursday alone, a year-on-year increase of 170 percent, a bulletin from the municipal bureau of tourism showed.

New tourist sites received the most number of visitors.

The Olympic Park - home to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, which were opened to the public on Monday - saw 493,000 tourists on Thursday and 310,000 visitors as of 3 pm on Friday, statistics released by the municipal tourism authorities showed.

Another latest attraction, Qianmen Street, received 990,000 tourists in the first four days of the National Day holidays, including 300,000 people on Wednesday and 310,000 people on Thursday.

The street is one of Beijing's oldest commercial areas and was reopened to the public on Aug 7 after a yearlong refurbishment.

Other familiar draws such as the Forbidden City, Beijing Zoo and Badaling section of the Great Wall all had visitors beyond capacity, official figures showed.

On Friday, the Forbidden City hosted 110,000 visitors, double the number a year ago. Badaling had 92,000 visitors that day, triple the number for the same period last year.