Curious tourists flock to Hangzhou

Tourists take a selfie with a "Panda Police", around the West Lake area on Sept 8. Lian Guoqing/For China Daily

"Hangzhou was overloaded with tourists on those days, and we had a hard time finding a seat in the restaurant and a parking place," said Xu. "We intended to watch another fountain show with lights and music after dinner, but we missed it because of traffic congestion."

Tao Jinxian was one of the tourists guided by Xu. She said there also was an amazing light show on both banks of the Ganjiang River, a major branch of the Yangtze River, in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, but the one in Hangzhou was different because the summit venue is in the background.

"What I see now is what the leaders of 20 countries saw. The trip was well worth it," Tao said.

Hotels and restaurants in Hangzhou witnessed a major boom, which was expected to continue.

Du Lin, director of sales and marketing for Hangzhou InterContinental Hotel, the main venue for the B20 Summit held one day before the G20 Summit, said rooms were fully booked during the Mid-Autumn holiday. For the upcoming National Day holiday, which runs from Oct 1 to 7, bookings are so far 40 percent higher year-on-year.

Kuiyuanguan, a restaurant in Hangzhou, reported a year-on-year rise of 54 percent in sales revenue during the past holiday. "We predict the rise will continue during the National Day holiday," said Zhang Delin, the restaurant's office director.

Ctrip data showed that by Sunday, the number of bookings to Hangzhou for the National Day holiday had already doubled the number from last year, and many of those who placed orders were from such distant places as Tianjin and Chengdu.

Contact the writers at shixf@chinadaily.com.cn