China's tourists cut back foreign travel over 'Golden Week', choose patriotic destinations at home

FILE PHOTO: A tourist rests under an umbrella next to the installations set up on Tiananmen Square for the 70th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China on October 1, in Beijing, China August 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese mainland tourists cut back on trips and spending abroad during the long "Golden Week" holidays in early October, with a weaker yuan, political turmoil in Hong Kong and global tensions dampening their enthusiasm to travel too far from home.

But "patriotic" tourism to local historic sites boomed on the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The annual holiday to mark the modern nation's founding, during which hundreds of millions of people travel, began on National Day on Oct. 1 and ended on Monday this year.