Fewer Guangzhou citizens will make use of their cars to travel during the coming National Day holidays, a survey by the city's tourism and statistic bureaus shows.

This is the first time in recent years the city will see a decline in travelers using their own cars to spend the golden week holidays, because of the fuel price hikes in recent months.

The bureaus surveyed 1,940 residents and more than 70 percent said they would travel during the holidays. More than 9 percent said they would choose Hong Kong and Macao as destinations, an increase of 53 percent over the same period last year. The newly opened Disneyland in Hong Kong is a popular destination for Guangzhou tourists.

More than 54 percent of those surveyed said they would travel inside the city. The survey expects Guangzhou citizens will spend 1.84 billion yuan (US$227 million) in traveling during the holidays, a decrease of 5 percent compared with the May Day holidays.

(Shenzhen Daily September 27, 2005)