The Great Wall of China Invaded With ‘Sea of Tourists’ as Chinese Celebrate Golden Week Holiday

Massive throngs of tourists who are on break for the Golden Week holiday in China have been flocking to the Great Wall of China and other local hotspots since Monday.

The week-long public holiday kicked off on October 1 with 145,000 people attending a special flag-raising ceremony at Tian’anmen Square. The celebration marked the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The first day also saw almost 37,000 tourists amassing on Badaling, the most visited section of the Great Wall, MailOnline reports. In video clips taken at the site, a sea of frustrated visitors are seen struggling to move while standing elbow to elbow with each other. The high number of guests are expected to grow even more over the next couple of days.

Images of mostly packed bus and train terminals in Guangdong, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou and other parts of the country have emerged on social media. Other popular local landmarks, such as Shanghai’s The Bund and Hangzhou’s West Lake have also been swarmed by thousands of tourists.

Last week, major cities across the country also participated in a grand light show event called “I Love You, China.”

The semi-annual seven-day national holiday is the country’s second largest annual human migration following the Spring Festival as it is when most of the Chinese people go on domestic and international trips.

On Monday alone, around 122 million people traveled around the country, registering a 7.54% year-on-year growth based on government data.

That day generated a revenue of 103 billion yuan ($15 billion) for domestic tourism, a figure which also saw a 7.19% increase from last year.

Meanwhile, around seven million mainland tourists are expected to do their traveling abroad, with a majority of them traveling to Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong. according to China Daily.

Featured image via YouTube/Netizen Watch

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