Entrance fees have gone up significantly at some Chinese tourist sites in advance of the week-long Labor's Day holiday.

The admission fees of well-known tourism sites such as Dunhuang, Mount Tai, Mount Lu and Jiuzhaigou are up 20 to 30 percent. Other sites have jacked their prices by 50 percent, say sources with the China Travel Service.

Tourism sites usually raise entrance fees during peak periods, said Guo Weihua, an official with the travel service. Basic entrance fees for the Forbidden City will jump 50 percent, from 40 yuan to 60 yuan (8 U.S. dollars) while a basic ticket to get into the Summer Palace will go from 20 yuan to 30 yuan for the coming holiday.

Many other lesser famed sites scattering across the country have pledged not to increase entrance fees hoping lower prices will attract more visitors.

The price hike is a major source of income for tourism companies, said Guo.

China has seen a boom in tourism in recent years. The country's tourism industry is expected to bring record revenues of a trillion yuan, up ten percent from 2006, according to the National Tourism Administration.

Some 129 million inbound visitors from overseas are expected to visit China in 2007, five million more than that last year.

Domestic tourists are projected to take 1.5 billion trips within the country, up eight percent against last year.

The Chinese government has been encouraging its citizens to travel more to stimulate domestic consumption.

China earned 33.5 billion U.S. dollars from tourism last year, making the country the sixth highest tourism revenue earner in the world.

Source: Xinhua