Forbidden City reports smooth first day of peak holiday

BEIJING - The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, reported a smooth first day of its busiest season since adopting a daily limit of 80,000 visitors in June.

The visitor control policy will continue throughout the rest of the National Day holiday, said the museum in a press release on Friday.

Since June 13, the Forbidden City has required visitors to purchase tickets using IDs, such as passports, with advance booking online strongly encouraged.

Of Thursday's visitors, 25,000 had booked tickets online, the highest since the museum launched the service, the press release said.

Huge visitor inflow during the week-long holiday has put pressure on museum facilities and management. Last year, it received 640,000 visitors in seven days and the record high was 800,000 in 2012.

To ease visitors into the new policy, the museum increased the daily quota for online booking to 50,000 tickets and encouraged the public to book in advance to prevent competition for limited tickets at the ticket office.

Based on last year's data, Friday is expected to be the busiest day, and the museum strongly recommends visitors schedule their visits for after Sunday, the press release said.

It also promised to work on more measures, such as limiting the number of tickets to be sold during peak hours.

Located in the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City was home to China's emperors and was the highest center of power from 1420 to 1911. It attracts more than 15 million visitors annually.