TV trumps holiday travels
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-02 09:11

More local residents plan to stay home during this National Day holiday, shunning crowds at holiday spots and preferring home TV to taking a trip, according to a survey.

Market Expert (Shanghai), a local consulting company, asked more than 800 families in three major Chinese cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, about their plans in the golden holiday week.

Nearly 65 percent respondents in the cities said that they don't have any traveling plans this time, while only 35 percent of local people are preparing for a National Day holiday outing.

The percentage of local people traveling dropped by nearly 10 percentage points compared with the figure of last October.

But the number of travelers in Shanghai is still the highest among the three surveyed cities, compared with 30 percent in Beijing and only 21 percent in Guangzhou.

"Tourism of the Southeast Asian countries remains sluggish since the tsunami happened in several island countries at the end of last year. Plus the devastating hurricane Katrina in the United States, all these uncertainties tend to frustrate people's traveling enthusiasm," said Qian Qing, analyst at Market Expert.

Jojo Tang, a local office worker, said that the major reason for not going out is the fear of large traveling crowds at scenic spots.

"People who are busy with their work tend to go out together during the weeklong holiday, but the crowded spots always spoil traveling interest," Tang said.

She said they now prefer to take up some entertainment activities in the city rather than going outside the city.

For instance, the upcoming Pudong World Carnival in the city's Lujiazui area will be a big attraction for locals who want to stay home.

Meanwhile, the survey showed that watching TV is the top plan for people who plan to stay home.

More than 62 percent people surveyed said that they would like to make up for TV series they cannot afford the time to watch at working days during the holiday week. After watching TV, people said they want to take a good rest or spend time with family members.

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