THE number of tourists at Qingdao Forest Safari Park had reached more than 5,000 during the period from July 1 to 3, increasing by 66 percent compared with the same period last year, said Cui Lijun, manager of the customer department of the park.

    Like the park, the number of tourists at several main tourism attractions such as Golden Beach, Puti Temple and Dazhu Mountain along the west coast of the city has also increased sharply since July due to the opening of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge and Jiaozhou Bay Tunnel.

    The blueberry-picking festival in Baoshan Township also attracted more than 500 visitors July 2, 10 times more than the previous year, while the number of visitors at Dazhu Mountain has also increased by at least 30 percent. The number of tourists in the area is expected to reach more than 10 million this year.

    (Wang Yuanyuan, Han Guangliang)