Seeing the sights: Tourists taking photos together in front of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. — Xinhua
TEMPLES, mountains and historic sites around China drew huge crowds and hours-long queues as millions of people made trips during the country’s seven-day “Golden Week” holiday.
Though Chinese consumer confidence remains near record lows and economic growth is slowing amid a prolonged property crisis and employment concerns, there was hope the pre-holiday stimulus unveiled by Beijing in the days before the holiday might help loosen traveler purse strings.The holiday period is traditionally one of the busiest on China’s travel calendar and the number of travelers on the move throughout the holiday was characteristically high this year, though official data about their spending has not yet been released.
