Beijing top domestic destination for Dragon Boat Festival

During the Dragon Boat Festival, more than four million people visit the scenic spots in Beijing, such as the Forbidden City. [Photo/Xinhua]

Beijing is the top choice for Chinese travelers spending their recent three-day Dragon Boat Festival holidays, according to the Chinese National Tourism Administration.

Data released by Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development shows that 160 major scenic spots in Beijing received more than four million visitors during the festival. Among them, the visitor numbers at the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Badaling Great Wall increased noticeably compared with last year.

Beijing provides two major types of tourist attractions: cultural activities at unique attractions; and tours of the outskirts and rural areas through self-driving tours.

According to the National Tourism Administration, the main domestic passenger sources ranked in order are Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Kunming. Meanwhile, the most popular domestic tourist destinations are Beijing, Hangzhou, Lijiang, Sanya, Dali, Kunming, Aba Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Xiamen and Diqiang Tibetan autonomous prefecture.

In the news report by the Beijing Times, as Father's Day overlapped with Dragon Boat Festival, more families took a trip over the long weekend to increase family bonds than last year. According to their survey three days before the festival, over 80 percent of those polled had planned to travel and more than 65 percent of them were going with their fathers or children.

An unnamed official in the National Tourism Administration told the journalist from the Beijing Times that his family prefers to enjoy landscapes or take a village tour which is suitable for all ages. With the continuous improvement of the high-speed rail network, high-speed rail has become a popular mode of transportation for Chinese travelers.

Due to a lower exchange rate and easier requirements for visas, many Chinese families have chosen to spend short breaks abroad. According to the data by a travel agency website, Japan became the most popular destination during the festival. Besides, tours or air tickets to the Maldives, Bali Island as well as other island destinations in Southeast Asia are also in great demand in China.

Some visitors combined their annual vacation with the long weekend, and chose the hot distant destinations such as France, Italy and the United States.

According to the National Tourism Administration, the tourism wave during the Dragon Boat Festival was a prelude for the upcoming boom for tourism in summer.