Tourism record expected for May Day

A total of 149 million tourists are forecast to travel during the upcoming May Day holiday, up from 134 million last year, according to a survey by China Tourism Academy.

Conducted in 60 cities across the country, the survey estimated that the domestic tourism industry would likely reap 88 billion yuan ($13.9 billion) of revenue during the holiday, which runs from Sunday to Tuesday, compared with 79 billion yuan in 2017.

More than one-quarter of them said they will visit overseas destinations.

The most popular overseas destinations include Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, while Canada, France and Russia are becoming more popular than before.

Meanwhile, 31.2 percent of tourists preferred short-haul trips, the surveyed showed.

The top three popular destinations are Beijing, Qinhuangdao in Hebei province and Dalian in Liaoning province, the latter two being coastal cities. They are followed by Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Shanghai, Sanya in Hainan province, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

Another travel guideline on the holiday issued by amap.com and local transport authorities said that the most popular scenic spots included West Lake in Hangzhou, the Bund in Shanghai and the Summer Palace and the Great Wall in Beijing. The results are based on users' search data on amap.com.

Over 1.8 million tourists visited West Lake during last year's May Day holiday, according to Qianjiang Evening News.

"We will monitor the number of tourists coming to our scenic spot in real time and establish a multifunctional service station near the Leifeng Pagoda on Friday," a publicity official with the West Lake scenic area management committee said. Leifeng Pagoda is an important attraction at the West Lake scenic area.

Visitors can check tourism information, police can keep the peace and other officials can monitor the scenic spot at the station, the department said.

On April 20, Hangzhou Tourism Commission released a mini program on WeChat allowing users to search for nearby toilets and hotels and check crowd levels at scenic spots.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminded tourists to take good care of their safety when sightseeing. It also said visitors should respect local manners and customs and help protect the environment.