Beijing sees surging visits in Qingming holiday

BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The city of Beijing has seen marked increases in tourist figures during this year's Qingming Festival holiday that concluded on Saturday, official data showed.

During the three-day holiday, the Chinese capital received more than 9 million tourist visits, marking an increase of 84.5 percent year on year and an 8.5 percent rise from the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

The city raked in 10.5 billion yuan (about 1.48 billion U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue during the holiday, marking a rise of 60.1 percent from that for last year's same holiday and an increase of 8.6 percent from 2019.

Wangfujing shopping street, Nanluoguxiang Lane known for its well-preserved quadrangle courtyards, and the Summer Palace, are among the city's most-visited tourist attractions.

The Qingming Festival, also known as the Tomb-Sweeping Day, is a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the deceased, worship ancestors and go on spring outings.

Amid an ongoing tourism boom, China anticipated a daily average of 250.95 million inter-regional trips during the holiday, marking a 56.1 percent increase compared with the same period last year and a 20.9 percent increase from 2019, according to Ministry of Transport data.