Attractions from scenic sites to historical relics never fail to lure large numbers of tourists to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China’s Liaoning province during the May Day holiday, putting the city in the top ten of self-driving destinations in China.

Over the three-day May Day holiday Shenyang received 1.4 million tourists, with tourism income reaching 43.32 million yuan ($6.28 million), representing a 25 percent increase and 15 percent increase respectively compared with last year’s May Day holiday.

This year’s holiday fell during Shenyang’s spring tourism festival, when over 160 spring tourism activities with five different themes were launched, with tourism activities centered around appreciating flowers, parent-child interaction, exhibitions, sightseeing and sampling folk customs.

Rural tourism saw robust growth during the May Day holiday, as more city-dwellers opted for a taste of rural life, and local governments hope this burgeoning sector will increase local tourism income.

Statistics from Shenyang tourism administration commission reveal that four rural tourism items covering strawberry-picking, mountaineering, swimming and sampling local ethnic culture drew a total of 104,700 visitors to Shenyang’s rural scenic spots, generating 11.27 million yuan in tourism income.

In addition, the policy of allowing free use of expressways during the May Day holiday attracted 155,200 tourists from outside Liaoning province to Shenyang through self-driving tours, with tourists mainly coming from Beijing, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Heilongjiang province and Jilin province; with tourists who live in Liaoning province numbering 158,800, accounting for 89.7 percent of the total, which puts Shenyang in the top ten of self-driving tour destinations in China.