ShanghaiI collected tourism revenue of 1.4 billion yuan (US$200 million) during the May Day holiday which ended on Saturday, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission.

Short-term tours and going to the suburbs have become the new style of holiday spending for local people in the first shortened May Day holiday, officials said yesterday.

Long-term travel, however, was less popular than during the former "Golden Weeks." The city earned 3.2 billion yuan during the week-long May Day holiday last year, local tourism authorities said.

According to Ctrip.com, China's major online tour service company, Shanghai ranked first on the top 10 list of the hottest domestic cities for traveling, while on the list of the top 10 cities whose residents were most keen on traveling during the holiday, the city was second only to Beijing.

The booking rate of the hotels in the surrounding provinces had a rise of 30 percent compared to the same period last year. And more than 177,100 vehicles went out of the city through local highways, according to the tourism commission.

Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center reported that more than 75,910 people chose the center's products during the holiday. Of those, about one third of tourists set off on May 1, up about 35 percent on May 1 last year.

"Before, most people chose to start their journey on May 2 or 3, and this year, the travel rush came earlier," said Xu Zhuoru, an official with the center.

The two products covering the Hangzhou Bay Bridge which was put in operation on May 1, were the most popular during the holiday.

"Before the holiday, the products were solidly booked," said Xu.

The Oriental Land was another hot destination for local people, said the center.

As the holiday was shortened, the number of tourists from other cities who booked the center's products dropped. "In the past, many tourists coming to the city also took our bus to the suburbs as they had enough time, but this year, the number of such tourists decreased," Xu said.

With fine weather during the holiday, relaxing in the suburbs proved another popular choice. More than 441,200 people went to scenic spots in Fengxian, Qingpu, Songjiang and Jiading districts. Fengxian, which has several agricultural gardens, was the most popular, said the commission.

Back to downtown, Century Park was the hottest scenic spot during the holiday with the Pudong International Carnival, a musical feast, receiving more than 100,000 tourists, 72 percent more than the last May Day holiday, reported the commission.

Overseas tourists and people going abroad, however, declined this May Day holiday. The commission's statistics showed that only 3,950 people went on out-bound vacations, down about 16 percent on last May Day.

"The holiday is too short to travel overseas," said Shi Musha, a bank employee who is planning her travel in autumn.

"I have a five-day paid annual leave, and with the two weekends before and after the leave, I can have nine days to go to Greece. It'll be much better than going out and back in a rush in the three-day May Day holiday."

(Shanghai Daily May 5, 2008)