The Capital International Airport in Beijing handled 218,924 tourists during the "Golden Week", the National Day holiday period from October 1 to 7, according to the Beijing Customs Monday.

The figure included 110,106 outbound tourists and 108,818 overseas tourists coming to China.

The airport received 30,000 visitors in each of the seven days,up 20 percent over the corresponding period last year.

Capital airport adopted a series of measures, including openingtemporary channels, to guarantee the smooth flow of tourists during the National Day holiday period.

Customs officers also stepped up efforts to crack down on smuggling activities, smashing six smuggling cases and seizing illicit money of 1.36 million yuan (about 167,000 US dollars) in total.

The National Day holiday period, together with the weeklong MayDayand Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year, holiday periods, is described by Chinese as the "Golden Weeks". Millions of Chinese take the opportunity to travel around the country and the world as well.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2005)