Spring Festival Once Again Breaks Records for Massive Crowds

As inevitable as fireworks and the CCTV gala on TV, this year's Spring Festival holiday has brought record-breaking massive crowds of tourists to Beijing that have since been replaced by a huge wave of returning local residents.

Beijing train stations processed some 10.6 million passengers coming back to the capital during this holiday's peak travel time on Tuesday, signifying an eight percent increase over last year's total at the same time.

Wednesday's passenger total for Beijing's top three train stations was notably less at 550,000 while the city's main airport processed 145,000 people the same day.

Crowds were so large at Beijing train stations at the tail-end of this year's Lunar New Year break that many departing travelers needed to endure a 50-minute-long wait in order to enter the station while new arrivals were faced with taxi fare hikes that jumped to RMB 80 for a 5-kilometer-long trip.

Despite their numbers, the absence left by the exodus of locals was quickly filled in.

Over 7.7 million tourists visited Beijing this Spring Festival (a year-on-year increase of five percent) and spent a total of 7.26 billion yuan, signifying an eight percent increase over last Spring Festival. With individual tourists spending a daily average RMB 942, local businesses raked in 58.285 million yuan, an increase of 13 percent over the same period last year.

Some 2.09 million tourists visited Beijing's 146 tourist attractions over the holidays, a 14 percent increase over last year. And even though it shut down its outdoor skating operations two weeks ago, Shichahai Park was easily the city's biggest attraction this past holiday, drawing 8.19 million visitors, over 57 percent more than last year.

Meanwhile, local temples proved to be very popular by attracting 572,000 visitors just as were Beijing's 11 parks, which took in a one-day total of 420,000 on Tuesday.

As of Feb 21, 17 million people have taken trains during this year's Spring Festival travel rush at Beijing train stations, making for some decidedly impressive but now increasingly familiar pictures of endless seas of people.

Images: BJNews.com.cn

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