Plum trees are blosssoming in the Lion Grove Garden in Suzhou which saw a big rise in tourist number during the holiday. [Photo/Suzhou Daily]

Suzhou received 2.62 million visitors during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday between Feb 7 and 13, up 9.84 percent from the year before. Its tourism income during the holiday is expected to top 3 billion yuan ($459 million), up 11 percent, informed an official.

Compared with last year's figures, holiday visitors spent an average of 0.03 more days in the city of gardens, increasing local hotel occupancy rate by 1 percent. They also spent a little more than last year on hotel rooms, shopping and dining. However, they spent slightly less on tickets to tourist attractions and transportation.

While the botanic garden in Dayang Mountain National Forest Park received more than 32,700 visitors during the holiday, earning about 731,600 yuan ($112,000) in ticket sales.

Suzhou Tourist Information Center continued working during the holiday and provided help for 6,509 tourists. Its service hotline 12301 received 244 calls.

And the helicopter tours for sightseers, launched before the festival by Suzhou Taihu Lake Tourism Group and Ruohang Group, took visitors on a breathtaking tour over the lake during the holiday.

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 people rode city tour buses.