Queuing for 2 hours at the Great Wall, Vietnamese tourists shocked by the crowded scene

(Dan Tri) - According to Dan Tri reporters, many famous tourist destinations in China during the International Labor Day holiday are always overloaded, with many visitors having to queue for 2 hours to get in.

Over the past few days, Chinese people have enjoyed a five-day International Labor Day holiday.

The May Day holiday is not only a time to rest, but is also expected to boost domestic tourism demand. Therefore, famous tourist destinations in this country are also overloaded.

Taking advantage of a short vacation after completing her master's thesis in China, Ms. Thuy Ngan (34 years old) and a group of friends from Vietnam booked a 1-day tour to visit Badaling - the most beautiful section of the more than 21,000km Great Wall - located about 80km from Beijing city center.

Tourists are routed through many sections before entering the cable car ticket check area (Photo: Tran Thanh Cong).

Departing from the city center at 9am, after more than 2 hours of traveling by bus, Ms. Ngan arrived at the gate of the tourist area. In front of her was a long line of tourists, mainly Chinese, waiting to enter.

To avoid crowding, the entrance area is divided by the management in a zigzag pattern like at the airport.

Ms. Ngan and her friends had to inch their way through the crowded crowd. After passing the first station, visitors followed a covered walkway to the ticket check area.

"We had to queue for 2 hours, covering a total distance of nearly 2km to reach the ticket gate to get on the cable car with tired legs and hungry stomachs. Even though I had prepared myself mentally, I was still surprised by the large number of customers," Ms. Ngan shared.

A round-trip cable car ticket costs 140 yuan per person (over 500,000 VND per person). Each cabin can accommodate 8 people, taking visitors from the foot of the mountain to a height of over 800m.

Stepping out of the cable car cabin, Ms. Ngan was dismayed at the sight of thousands of tourists crowding the stairs leading to the watchtower. There were sections of the path so narrow that she and her friend had to move step by step, even stopping several times because the line of people in front of them almost stood still.

Crowds of people at the entrance to the watchtowers (Photo: Tran Thanh Cong).

"This is the first time I have clearly felt what a "sea of ​​people" is. There are people in front and behind. On both sides of the wall are long lines of tourists taking pictures to mark their arrival at one of China's famous monuments," she said.

The Badaling Wall was built in 1505, during the Ming Dynasty. In 1953, the area was opened to tourists for the first time.

The total length of the Badaling Great Wall is 12km, of which 3.7km is open to visitors. There are 43 watchtowers in this area, of which 19 are open to visitors. The ramparts are 6-9m high, and the passage is about 7m wide.

According to Dan Tri reporters in Tianjin city - one of four centrally-run cities in China - the large number of visitors caused many roads in the center to become congested.

With the advantage of being only 30 minutes away from Beijing by high-speed train, many tourists choose to travel to Tianjin for 2 days and 1 night, combining sightseeing, enjoying cuisine and shopping.

In front of the ceramic house, tourists lined up and moved one by one (Photo: Tran Thanh Cong).

One of the areas that receives a lot of visitors in Tianjin is the ceramic house located at 72 Chifeng Road. Security forces had to set up barriers to prevent traffic jams.

As noon approached, the flow of people became more and more crowded, causing the area in front of the house to become overloaded. Many tourists could only raise their phones or cameras to take quick photos as thousands of people waited behind them for their turn.

The house is decorated with many pieces of ceramic (Photo: Tran Thanh Cong).

The Porcelain House is a private museum decorated with 400 million pieces of ceramics, 13,000 vases, plates, and bowls of various types. The porcelain here dates from the Tang Dynasty around the 7th century to the Qing Dynasty (17th to 20th century).

Holiday room rates in Tianjin also increased by 20%-30% compared to last week.

"Luckily, I booked a room early so it only cost 300 yuan/night (over 1 million VND). On official holiday days, the room rate increased to 450 yuan/night (1.6 million VND)," said Mr. Huy (a tourist from Vietnam).

Meanwhile, at Mount Tai (Shandong Province, China), 32,000 tourists passed through the Hongmen entrance to start climbing the mountain from midnight.

Mount Tai is a mountain with peaks ranging in height from 150m to 1,545m. It is one of the five most sacred mountains in China.

Ms. Xiao Lin - a tourist from Jiangsu province - complained: "At an altitude of 1,400m of Mount Tai, the density is as high as 3-4 people/m2, there are sections where it takes 3 hours to travel 500m."

Wang Lui, a university student in Beijing, is still haunted by the sight of tourists crowding each other on Mount Tai. On some steep slopes, the crowd behind them constantly pushes and shoves, forcing the people in front to hold on to the railing to avoid danger.

"The scene was crowded as if people were rushing to buy discounted items at the supermarket," said the male student.

Thousands of people crowded on Mount Tai in Shandong, China (Photo: WB).

On the first day of the International Labor Day holiday, the country of one billion people still saw the number of passengers traveling by means of transport nationwide increase by 8% compared to the same period last year. Of which, the number of passengers on railways across China alone increased by 8.7%.

Data from a Chinese hotel booking website shows that in some areas, the number of guests booking luxury hotels increased by 30% compared to the same period last year. Tourists increasingly favor unique experiences such as wildlife viewing or leisurely vacations combined with nature exploration .

Among them, cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen (Guangdong province), Shanghai... attract nearly 60% of tourists in this country during the International Labor Day holiday.

Booking data from the Tuniu platform shows that, during this time, 62% of tourists in China chose 3-5 day itineraries, with 10% of tourists choosing a vacation longer than 6 days thanks to the combination of additional vacation days.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/xep-hang-2-tieng-o-van-ly-truong-thanh-khach-viet-choang-canh-chen-chuc-20250504130824558.htm