Festival weekend sees more short family trips

Travel agencies reported that short family trips were the highlight of the just completed Mid-Autumn Festival holiday-a traditional Chinese festival for family unions, balancing people's expanding demands for sightseeing and cultural experience within a limited vacation period.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Sunday that domestic attractions received 105 million visits during the three-day break from Friday to Sunday, up 7.6 percent year-on-year.

Revenue generated during the holiday reached 47.3 billion yuan ($6.7 billion), 8.7 percent higher than the same period last year.

Short trips to nearby attractions are preferred by travelers to make full use of the holiday rather than spending long stretches of time going farther away, according to a report by the China Tourism Academy and UnionPay on Monday.

The report said that over 70 percent of travelers took short trips during the holiday, and bullet trains were their top picks to help save travel time.

Li Qiuyan, director of online travel agency Lvmama's branding development department, said that taking high-speed rail helps avoid traffic jams, and is more comfortable and environmentally friendly than traveling by car. She said that some railways-for example, lines connecting Shanghai and Beijing-stop at attractions where people can easily access beautiful scenery.

Culture-related projects were the most visited domestic attractions. According to the ministry, 115 museums in Shanghai were open to travelers during the holiday, with attendance reaching 221,900.

Also, nearly 200 cultural events were held in Hubei province and 151 art performances were staged, bringing a cultural feast to travelers celebrating the traditional festival, the ministry said.

Qunar, an online travel service provider, said that admiring the full moon during night flights or while visiting vast grasslands in Inner Mongolia were popular this holiday.

Qiu Yanyan, a 29-year-old from Beijing, said that she happened to see the moon during her flight from Beijing to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Friday night.

"I was traveling to see my boyfriend who works in Hangzhou," she said. "I'd never watched the full moon from such a high altitude. It was amazing."