Big data help ease holiday crowds in Shanghai

SHANGHAI -- Shanghai municipal government issued a notice Sunday afternoon on its official Wechat account, advising visitors against flocking to over-crowded tourist attractions.

The Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower, Shanghai Museum, and Madame Tussauds wax museum were among a number of tourist sites that had or were about to reach their maximum capacity Sunday afternoon, according to a real-time monitoring system launched by the municipal authorities.

Through the system based on big data analysis, tourists in Shanghai can keep an eye on the size of the crowds in more than 70 tourist attractions in the city and make sensible decisions to avoid the crowds during the holiday.

Shanghai received some 2.54 million visitors during the first four days of the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, according to Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration.