Harbin's Labor Day tours surge, flight bookings rise

Local media reported that data from the tourism platform Ctrip shows that single-day tours booked for trips to Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, during the upcoming Labor Day holiday have increased fourfold compared to last year. Flight bookings have also increased by 18 percent.

The most popular tourist destinations for this holiday are Siberian Tiger Park, Harbin Polar Park, Poseidon Underwater World, and the Songhua River Sightseeing Cableway.

In addition to local tourists from Heilongjiang, visitors from Beijing, Shanghai, the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region have chosen Harbin as their holiday destination.

"Harbin has been ready to welcome visitors and sincerely invite tourists from home and abroad to come for a spring date," Zhu Zhanchun, deputy director of the city's culture, radio, film and tourism bureau, said at a Sunday news conference in Harbin.

"Tourists can enjoy beautiful mountains and scenery everywhere in Harbin on spring days," he said. "We will launch a series of activities during the holiday, such as mountaineering tours, activities to get close to animals and night tours on the Songhua River."

On Saturday evening, the Songhua River Light Show began testing, lighting the city in ever-changing colors.

The light show will officially debut during the holiday. The lights begin at Flood Control Memorial Tower and cross the river via the Sun Bridge to illuminate Sun Island.