China sees robust tourism, consumption during National Day holiday

TIANJIN, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Picking hairy crabs and shrimping in the paddy fields, going boating to appreciate the beautiful scenery, then having simple but delicious local meals -- these and other activities are enjoyed by visitors to Diliubu Village, north China's Tianjin Municipality.

Such short visits to rural regions were a popular choice for many Tianjin citizens during the recent weeklong National Day holiday.

Listed among the country's most beautiful villages by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and nominated as one of the country's major rural tourism spots, the picturesque village took advantage of its rivers, ponds and paddy fields and designed multiple sightseeing routes, integrating ecological farming with tourism.

"Many tourists from downtown rolled up their sleeves and experienced peanut picking and radish pulling in the fields," said Ni Guozhi, the village's deputy Party chief. During the holiday, the village received more than 30,000 visitors.

As rural tourism gained steam during the holiday, the farmhouse hostel saw its business soar.

In Changzhou Village, Tianjin, Gao Cuilian's farmhouse hostel was packed with guests.

"We had more than 100 guests staying in over 60 rooms, which could bring in some 30,000 yuan (about 4,656 U.S. dollars) a day during the holiday," Gao said.

"It was quite relaxing for us to stay here for a few days, playing ping pong, hiking around and singing karaoke. We had a fulfilling holiday," said Sun Yanan, a tourist from Tianjin staying at Gao's hostel.

Apart from rural tourism, new consumption patterns have also emerged in cities during the holiday.

An e-sports festival opened in Tianjin on Oct. 1. Abundant activities including e-sports events, music festivals, and jubensha, literally translated as "script homicide" -- a role-playing murder-mystery game, attracted young people during the holiday.

"Jubensha and e-sports are bringing more possibilities to the tourism industry, which play important roles in enhancing urban vitality and stimulating consumption growth, especially meeting many young consumers' diversified consumption needs," said Zhang Yuyao, a staffer of the e-sports festival organizer.

During the holiday, the event attracted nearly 100,000 visitors.

Eastern megacity Shanghai also saw robust growth in consumer spending during the holiday.

According to data released by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, the city's consumer spending totaled about 76.59 billion yuan from Oct. 1 to 7, up 16 percent over the same period last year.

Both offline and online consumption increased, growing 23.4 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

In central China's Hunan Province, the 107 A-level scenic spots monitored across the province received over 9.9 million tourists during the holiday, a year-on-year increase of more than 38 percent. The revenue of these scenic spots reached nearly 1.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 45 percent.

Indoor venues such as cultural centers, libraries and museums in the province received more than 1 million visitors during the holiday, up 8.38 percent year on year.