Strong tourism recovery seen during 8-day holiday

On Sept 18, the ministry raised the cap on the number of daily visitors at tourist spots nationwide from 50 percent of operating capacity to 75 percent during the holiday.

Domestic tourism market revenue exceeded 466 billion yuan ($68.6 billion) during the eight days, compared with 649.7 billion yuan during the holiday last year. The holiday was extended by one day this year to incorporate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell on Oct 1, also National Day.

Qunar, an online travel service provider, said the Tibet autonomous region and Qinghai and Hainan provinces saw the best recoveries, with reservations to the three destinations on its platform up by more than 30 percent year-on-year.

Among popular attractions, those in northwestern and southwestern provinces that usually take longer to travel to, such as Xi'an in Shaanxi province and Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan province, were preferred by travelers.