The Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone received 15,300 tourists during the Spring Festival holiday between Feb 9 and 15, statistics from the county's tourism bureau show, Pingtan Times reported on Feb 18.

The figure is a 10.86 percent increase over the same period last year.

Despite the constant cold and rainy weather during the holiday week, tourists poured to scenic spots such as East Sea Fairyland and Tannan Bay in the pilot zone. Individual tourists driving to Pingtan grew the most compared with tour groups.

"Express highways in the nation are free of charge during the holiday, which encouraged more families in nearby regions to drive to Pingtan to go sightseeing," said Lin Xiaoyan, manager of Pingtan's Landao Tourism Agency.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai