China celebrated International Labor Day on Thursday. Although the usual 7-day public holiday was cut to 3 days, the enthusiasm for vacations wasn't dampened.

Despite the shortened holiday, people across the country have still found ways to enjoy themselves. Figures from the National Tourism Administration show that until 6 pm on May 1st, 119 supervised tourist attractions had received nearly 3 million visitors. That's an increase of over 3 percent from last year.

Short tours to big and medium-sized cities and their
neighboring scenic spots were particularly popular. 

Short tours to big and medium-sized cities and their neighboring scenic spots were particularly popular.

Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu all launched one-day-leisure tour routes to meet rising demand. The traditional long-distance travel routes to Yunnan and Hainan provinces, as well as to Hong Kong and Macao SARs, still enjoyed high visitor numbers.  

The shorter break didn't affect the usual peak-time
for transport systems across the country. Passenger numbers
at railway stations still surged. 

The shorter break didn't affect the usual peak-time for transport systems across the country. Passenger numbers at railway stations still surged. On Wednesday alone, more than five million passengers boarded trains, up 16 percent from the same period last year.

Railway departments worked to avoid any bottle-neck by adding more trains to the system. Extra buses are also running to service routes to key tourist attractions.

(CCTV.com)