MORE than 2.41 million visitors came to Qingdao from Oct. 1 to 7 during the National Day holidays. The number increased by 12.6 percent over the same period of last year. The city had made a sales revenue of 2.8 billion yuan (US$437.5 million), increasing by 15.6 percent. About 80 percent of hotel beds in the city were occupied. The number of visitors in the Development Zone and Jiaonan were 498,000 and 405,000 respectively, increasing by 12 percent and 15.7 percent, while the number of visitors at Qingdao Safari Park was double that of last year. Several scenery venues, such as the Qingdao Undersea World and Polar World, had visitors of 121,100 and 134,000, increasing by more than 10 percent over last year. The Huaqiang Fante Dreamland in Chengyang District had about 753,000 visitors, while the number of visitors to the rural areas had also increased sharply. The Qingdao Museum opened a special art exhibition during the holiday. Famous works by Shi Tao, Zhang Daqian and Xu Beihong were exhibited, which had attracted a large number of art lovers. According to statistics, the number of visitors at the museum had increased by 40 percent over last year. Other exhibitions also attracted many visitors. The former residence of Lao She, a famous Chinese writer, also attracted a lot of travelers, while the Qingdao Beer Museum received about 2,000 visitors on average every day. The number of visitors for Mazu Temple also increased by 30 percent over last year. “Many visitors also chose to sail in Qingdao. They could take in the scenery and go fishing. With its increasing popularity, the number of travelers coming for sailing has increased sharply in recent years and we expected a further rise in the next few years,” said a manager at a yacht club in the city. (Wang Yuanyuan, Fu Jun, Li Wei) ? | 