The city of Baotou, located in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, played host to 423,300 tourists during the five-day May Day holiday period on May 1 to 5, representing a year-on-year decrease of 69.7 percent, according to a report in the Baotou Daily.
Total tourism revenue came in at 121.98 million yuan ($17.20 million), a year-on-year decrease of 70.3 percent.
Officials said affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, most tourists chose self-driving short tours of the local area, with stops at major tourist attractions such as Wudang Lamasery and the Meidai Monastery.
To maintain a safe and orderly environment for tourists, the city introduced extra security patrols and inspections at key tourist attractions, with special arrangements initiated to ensure that adequate numbers of officials were on duty to handle complaints over the holiday period.