Xiamen sees 1.5m tourist trips during tomb-sweeping holiday

Xiamen in East China's Fujian province welcomes more than 1.56 million tourists during the three-day tomb-sweeping holiday. [Photo/WeChat account: xmnn-cn]

Xiamen in East China's Fujian province was the destination for more than 1.56 million tourist trips during the three-day tomb-sweeping holiday, up 18.36 percent from last year's holiday, statistics from the local culture and tourism administration show.

Tourism revenue surged 25.01 percent year-on-year to 1.57 billion yuan ($233 million) during the holiday which lasted from Friday to Sunday, according to the Xiamen Municipal Culture and Tourism Administration.

Data from Ctrip.com and LY.com, two leading online travel agencies in China, show that Xiamen ranks third among the most popular holiday destinations in China.

Natural scenes were favored by Xiamen's visitors, with Xiangshan Mountain, Tianzhu Mountain and the Botanical Garden being especially popular.

Going to Jinmen, a county in Taiwan, is another popular option for tourists outside the Fujian province.

Xiamen travel agencies organized more than 40 tour groups of roughly 800 people to visit the Taiwan county.

The shipping routes between Xiamen and Jinmen experienced holiday rush hours. In the first two days, more than 5,800 tourists sailed to Jinmen, up by 30.05 percent year-on-year.

Tomb-sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival, is an important occasion on which Chinese people honor their ancestors.