Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

    BEIJING, Jan. 30 -- Shanghai welcomed 1.57 million tourists in the first three days of the week-long Spring Festival holiday, according to local authorities Wednesday.

    Statistics from the holiday management office of Shanghai government showed the number was up 4.7 percent from the same period last year, citing good weather as a possible cause.

    Popular tourist destinations included a folk lantern fair in Yuyuan garden in the old Chinatown district. It attracted 1.18 million tourists, up 12.3 percent from last year.

    Shanghai's landmark Oriental Pearl Tower greeted 660,000, a 4.8 percent rise from last year.

    And Jinmao Tower, the tallest building in the Chinese mainland and the second tallest in Asia, took in 170,000 tourists, up 13.3 percent.

    Spring Festival is the start of the Chinese New Year. It fell on Monday and is considered the most important celebration in the country.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shanghai.