Sites witnessing revolutionary activities since 1921 are expected to be busy tourist spots in the lead-up to the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 1,according to today's China Daily.

Tours to historical sites being dubbed "red travel" include one to the Jinggang Mountains, where Mao Zedong set up China's first farmer revolutionary base area in 1927. Yan'an, the seat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1936-47 in Shaanxi Province, Northwest China, is also expected to be popular.

"More than 2,000 tourists have travelled to revolutionary sites via our agency since mid-May, setting a new record," said Jiang Haihua from the China International Travel Service yesterday.

Although the service started "red travel" tours years ago, the number of people visiting them each year was in its hundreds, according to Jiang.

Other Beijing-based travel agencies have been promoting tours to Shanghai and Jiaxing of East China's Zhejiang Province, the birthplaces of the Party.

The Party's 80th anniversary will prick people's consciousness to explore the past and experience its history.

Some of the revolutionary sites are also State-level scenic spots. The Jinggang Mountains, which spread across Central China's Hunan Province and East China's Jiangxi Province, are famous for their waterfalls, sea of clouds, peaks and azaleas.

Hotels in the Jinggang Mountains are almost fully booked, according to sources from the local municipal tourism bureau.

During the past five months, almost 190,000 tourists visited the Jinggang Mountains, up 45 percent on the same period of last year, said Yin Jian, an official with the bureau.

However, Yin also expressed his worry of the lack of accommodation facilities in Jinggang Mountains when the amount of visitors continue to rise. The same problem also exists in other historical sites in varying degrees.

"I hope my boy will learn about the Party's history with this beautiful scenery as a backdrop, and see how he should endure hardship," said a woman surnamed Liu, who was registering for a trip to Yan'an for her son in a Guangdong-based travel agency.

The travel agency said revolutionary sites are also popular travel spots for foreign tourists.

It is predicted that the travel boom will continue till mid-July.

(Xinhua 06/27/2001)