The office said in a statement that 119 scenic spots in its nationwide monitoring system received 3.08 million tourists on Thursday, down 6.3 percent from the 3.29 million on Wednesday.

More than 90 percent of the hotel rooms in most tourist destinations were booked, the office said, adding that the booking rate was kept at 100 percent in the Ancient town of Pingyao in north China's Shanxi province.

However, 21 scenic spots in Beijing had received 531,000 tourists on Thursday, up 7.7 percent year-on-year. The number of tourists visiting the Forbidden City had exceeded the maximum capacity of the former imperial palace.

Editor: Xu Shenglan