Holiday crowds

Although the Chinese called the seven-day holiday that started Oct 1 the Golden Week, the luster wore thin for many tourists during this time of the year. According to media reports, China's major tourist attractions received 3.6 million visitors on Oct 6, up 11 percent year-on-year, based on data from 124 tourist sites across the country collected by the China National Tourism Administration.

Ticket receipts at these attractions stood at 172.8 million yuan ($28.2 million) on Oct 6, up 4.7 percent from the same period last year.

In the first six days of the holiday, 29.3 million people visited tourist sites monitored by the CNTA, spending 1.5 billion yuan on tickets.