Visitors are seen at a scenic spot in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province during the May Day holiday. [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

Taizhou in East China's Zhejiang province welcomed about 2.9 million visitors during the May Day holiday, which ended on May 3.

The figure represented a year-on-year uptick of 17.5 percent compared with the same break in 2019, before the COVID-19 epidemic, official statistics show.

Tourists were primarily from surrounding cities within Zhejiang as well as from places outside the province such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Guizhou and Henan.

Taizhou's 27 A-level scenic spots received nearly 1.41 million tourists during the five-day break, generating 62.93 million yuan ($9.1 million) in tourism revenue.

According to online travel services provider Qunar.com, Taizhou came in third among cities nationwide in terms of hotel bookings over the holiday, with the occupancy rate of highly-rated hotels in the city exceeding 83 percent.

The Ancient City of Taizhou Cultural Scenic Area became the most popular tourism destination in Taizhou during the holiday, when it welcomed 687,000 tourists, with the number of daily visitors hitting a record high of 169,000 on May 1.

A banquet attended by 1,000 diners was staged in the ancient city as well, attracting wide media coverage.

The five-day holiday also saw a host of activities, from bazaars and concerts to cultural exhibitions, staged to meet the increasingly diverse demands from tourists.