Growing up in Beijing, Zhang used to have no celebration other than eating zongzi during the festival. He made this festival different by taking a trip to Shangdong and saw a "wonderful dragon boat race" as part of the country's traditional cultural heritage.

Statistics from the Shangdong Tourism Bureau said the province had hosted 10.8 million tourists during this holiday, which brought the province a tourism revenue of more than 6 billion yuan ($857 million).

Many sights became the destinations of tourists during the three-day break. Guizhou Province in southwest China, which highlighted the folk culture of Dragon Boat Festival, for example, hosted a total of 641,900 tourists and reaped 156 million yuan ($22.3 million) during this festival.

Four three-day vacations spread evenly during the year makes traveling a common practice for many urban residents. Zhang has already started planning his trip to Inner Mongolia for the Mid-Autumn Festival in October.

"I heard that the moon is especially bright over the grassland of Inner Mongolia and will bring my parents to the grassland this Mid-Autumn Festival, " said Zhang.

Precise targeting

Wu believed more and shorter vacations would promote the short-trip business route and boost sightseeing spots and holiday resorts surrounding the cities.

The CYTA started to design more two- or three-day routes and gave these routes priority in promotion this year. "Some of them received good feedback from the tourists and are open to booking for the New Year holiday," said Wu.

The three-day breaks around traditional festivals also offer shopping malls more chances for promotion.

Total sales of Beijing-based home appliances retailer Dazhong Electronics Corp. during the Pure Brightness Festival, Labor Day and Dragon Boat Festival holidays doubled that duing last year's seven-day Labor Day holiday, said Mao Xiaojun, General Manger of Dazhong Electronics Corp. Dazhong completed half of its sales in April during the three-day Pure Brightness Festival.

Suning Appliance Co. Ltd., the second largest appliance retailer in China, opened a new store during the Pure Brightness Festival in Haidian District in Beijing, which sold more than 1,000 laptops and more than 2,000 digital cameras on April 4.

"There were also an increase in sales of home improvement products including air conditioners and kitchen units," said Xu Zhengfei, General Manager of the Marketing Department of Suning Appliance's Beijing branch.