Scores of tourist groups were packed and set off on Tuesday afternoon from the railway station in the city of Guangzhou, transport hub in south China, as the first wave of the travel craze began for the seven-day "golden week" holiday.

According to the ticket office, 74,000 people left Guangzhou by train on Tuesday, twice as many as the normal daily transport volume. On Oct. 1, National Day, the station will probably send a record high about 90,000 passengers to the other areas.

The railway management has added extra trains and added additional carriages in order to expand their capacity. In spite of that, experts are afraid that the measures cannot efficiently cope with the fast growing passenger tide.

Starting from Oct. 1, most Chinese will enjoy a week-long National Day holiday and many have plans to travel around at home or abroad.

Tourism agencies as well as hotel owners have been eagerly anticipating the holiday in hopes that the masses of travelers will help invigorate their businesses which suffered from the epidemic of the severe acute respiratory symptom (SARS) early this year, especially in April and May.
(Xinhua News Agency  October 02, 2003)