Managing holidays in China no easy task

Beijing, Oct 8 (IANS) Managing a well-off society is no less difficult than managing a poor one, said a state-run Chinese daily after holidaymakers jammed highways and packed tourist sites during a long holiday.

The eight-day holiday for the Mid-autumn Festival and National Day ended Sunday and many complained about traffic jams and overcrowding.

A record 80.87 million people traveled by road each day on average during the holiday.

An article in the Global Times said the "crowded long holiday shows that China's domestic demand is huge. The actual situation of our national economy is not as bad as some people speculated".

"China is an economy which is difficult to manage precisely. In other words, our management capabilities do not match current social and economic activities, which are very active. However, at the same time, they are also quite chaotic," it admitted.

Stating that China has a large population of 1.3 billion, it said: "As increasing number of people are engaging in tourism, Western management methods and ideas cannot deal with China's problem of too many people traveling at the same time."

"The increasingly better-off Chinese are demanding more quality products, better service and infrastructure. But these cannot be reached just with money in a short period of time. The public takes it for granted that China nowadays should be as orderly as any developed country. Massive traffic jams during the holidays can greatly frustrate Chinese," it said.

The daily went on to say that these jams are not difficult to comprehend.

"The Forbidden City reportedly received 18 million tourists in one day this holiday, with most of the tourists coming from outside Beijing. In order to prevent the Forbidden City from becoming overcrowded, it would be necessary to block at least half of the tourists. There aren't really any other options."

It is a big challenge to prevent "a population swarm during the holidays".

"Chinese governments have to be aware that managing a well-off society is no less difficult than managing a poor society. Governments need to be more professional and devoted to providing this service," said the daily.