Forbidden city to open one hour earlier during May-day holiday

The Palace Museum, more popularly known as Forbidden City, will open one hour earlier during the May-day holiday from April 29 to May 1, according to a statement issued by the museum on Friday.

According to the new schedule, the Forbidden City will start receiving tourists from 7:30 a.m. and close at 5:00 p.m. during the nation's three-day holiday marking the International Workers' Day, a measure to accommodate the anticipated dramatic rise in visitor numbers.

The museum will also install nine more ticket booths during the holiday, taking the total number to 25. Certain booths are specifically for package tour groups, a measure designed to help avoid long queues.

Additionally, the museum will also exercise temporary flow control measures according to real-time monitoring of tourist flows, but those who book tickets online (gugong.228.com.cn) will be let in first, according to the statement.

The museum also announced that emergency plans were in place, to deal with fires, robbery, stampedes or other potential public security incidents.

The statement said that the Forbidden City received a total of 235,900 visitors during last year's May-Day holiday (April 30 to May 2), with an average of 80,000 visitors per day, doubling the average number of visitors in non-holiday period.

China's three-day May-day holiday, which falls around May 1st each year, usually results in a massive flow of population, as many take the opportunity to travel or go back to their hometowns.