Imagine this scale: 425 million tourists create chaos on China’s 8-day holiday season

Massive crowds brought chaos to sightseeing spots around China as the country’s still-growing economy allowed more people than ever to take advantage of the recent holiday season. According to statistics released by the government on Oct. 8, 425 million people in the country went out for sightseeing during the period, generating 210.5 billion yuan (2.6 trillion yen, or $33 billion) in tourism revenues. Both numbers were up more than 40 percent from last year.

Xinhua: The country’s 119 major scenic spots received a total of 34.25 million visitors during the eight-day holiday, up 20.96 percent from the corresponding period last year. Tourism income surged by nearly a quarter from 2011 to 1.77 billion yuan (278.39 million U.S. dollars), the NTA said. On Tuesday, 186,000 people visited the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum at the heart of Beijing — the largest single-day number of visitors ever.