When China's May Day holiday ended on the 7th, it also marked the end of the 20th Golden Week. It is estimated by the National Holiday Office that the number of tourists in the latest Golden Week hit a historic high of more than 150 million. The sharp rise in the number of tourists resulted in significant changes in Golden Week itself, as well as in leisure practices, ticket prices and holiday themes.

The Largest Seasonal Tourism in the World

On May 1, the Palace Museum in Beijing admitted a record 110,000 tourists, 2.3 times more than the total on non-holidays; in the first three days of the May, Shanghai received 2.8 million tourists–another record…According to the National Holiday Office, scenic spots around the country received 10 percent more tourists than the year before, with the same percent of revenue growth. One in five people in China chose to travel during Golden Week, creating the largest scale of seasonal tourism the world has ever seen. "During this year's May Day holiday, three members of my family chose to stay in a farm house in Yimeng mountainous area," says Mr. Liu, who works with a foreign trade enterprise in Qingdao of Shandong Province. "Scenic spots are so crowded that we tire easily. Isn't it better to drive to the countryside, near rivers and mountains, to forget all our daily troubles?"

The model of scenic spot-centered travel is obviously exhausting and inconvenient for some people to follow. Today, new kinds of tourism such as countryside tour and relaxation travel are becoming increasingly popular. It is estimated that within Golden Week, people who traveled to the countryside accounted for three fourth of those who traveled outside cities.

In Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, etc, yoga and swimming are popular. People often prefer to invite friends for sporting activity than to dinners. Quite a lot of people spend their May Day holiday catching up on learning; packed bookstores around the country attest to this. During the May Day holiday, the sales of newspapers and magazines have risen by 22.6 percent year on year. In Jilin Province this year, big bookstores and libraries received three times of visitors than usual. Beijing's Haidian Driving School had all of its 600 plus cars occupied by learners.

Money-Making Schemes Mean Increased Customer Dissatisfaction

For a mere ten yuan, tourists at the Jiangdi Recreational Park in Shandong Province's Liaocheng City are treated to everything the park has to offer, including single-log bridges and paragliding.

In Linqing, a city along the Jinghang Canal, the famous scenic spot Aotouji attracted a great number of tourists, thanks to its policy of "ten yuan for a regular ticket, five yuan during May Day holiday."
 The Jiaozhou City in Shandong Province opened five big parks to the public during the May Day holiday. In Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province, the wall of the local Yingze Park was torn down to allow the public to enter freely. A city government official says, "Since the government is the major investor in this park, we cannot ask the public to buy tickets."

Despite  these places of attraction, there are still some out to make a quick buck. In some areas, local governments support massive increases in ticket prices and the rampant overcharging of tourists. Not surprisingly, every day of Golden Week saw the duty room of the National Holiday Office receiving hordes of complaints. At some places of interest, tickets normally sold for 50 yuan went for double their price during the May Day holiday. The ticket for a famous mountain in Shandong Province even rose to 120 yuan during the holiday. Some park gates had signs saying that soldiers and students would have to pay less to enter, but this was never implemented. At some scenic spots in Beijing, although tourists don't pay for the gate tickets, they have to pay to visit special places within the parks.
 New Holiday Theme: Protection of Laborers' rights

During the May Day holiday, migrant workers and their families are rarely seen among the crowds of tourists. While most people are on vacation, migrant workers often continue to work in Beijing's Olympic stadiums, and at railway sites; others have to fight for delayed salaries.

The good news is that the situation is changing. Pi Jinjun is a villager from the Yimeng mountainous region. After 16 years of work in Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province, he was granted a permanent urban residence certificate by the Qingdao City Government during this May Day holiday. Other migrant workers, well known for their efforts in operating a free legal service hotline for other workers, were also given certificates.

This is only one example of changing policies. During this May Day holiday, officials from both central and local governments paid visits to workers in factories, in a bid to show their respect for the latter, and concern for the protection of their rights and interests. According to officials from China's National Tourism Administration, the emphasis on China's holiday is changing, with the objective of weeklong holidays moving from domestic demand promotion to equal opportunities in employment.

"My house can accommodate 24 tourists at the most, so if there are more, I will show them to my neighbors," says Lu Baoqin of the Hexi Village, in the Qianjiadian Town of Beijing's Yanqing County. In the first three days of this year's May Day holiday, she received more tourists than her house could accommodate. She is now planning to expand the bathroom and toilet. "We need Golden Weeks," she says. "Without them I don't know how I can manage to support my children, one in college and one in high school. Although the holiday means a tough time for us anyway, we can make enough money for the children's daily expenditure."

According to the National Tourism Administration, every year China's countryside tourist destinations receive about 300 million tourists, bringing a revenue of more than 40 billion yuan to the economy. Golden Weeks help to upgrade the Chinese consumption and employment structures. China's tourist industry is expected to offer direct job opportunities to 500,000 people and indirect jobs to 2.5 million people every year.
 Four Important Transitions

According to Wei Xiaoan, Vice Chairman of China Leisure Association, the Chinese people's sense of their right to leisure is awakening quickly. Some organizations begin to see lack of holidays for its staff as a deficiency in the management.

This is also reflected in people's concern for the quality of leisure. Congested roads and crowded parks fuel disenchantment and people begin to wonder whether it's worth traveling at all during Golden Week. Officials in the National Tourism Administration believe that the past 19 Golden Weeks have seen 1.63 billion Chinese travelers/times and the revenue from tourism reaching 670.4 billion yuan. Yet, experts say that this may be solely due to overpopulation, and the proportionate high demand for food, entertainment and luxury commodities.

Despite this, there seems to be a growing need for leisure activity. A member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) even believes that during the five months between May Day holiday and National Day holiday there should be another official holiday.

According to Zhang Xiqin, Vice Minister of the National Tourism Administration and the Executive Director of the National Holiday Office, China's holiday system is undergoing a transition from holiday economy-oriented type to a social welfare-oriented one, from public sightseeing to relaxation, from the stress on promoting domestic demand to the promotion of employment, and from an emphasis on quantity to that on quality.

(China.org.cn)