Visitor limitation at China’s busiest Great Wall section

Beijing, June 1 (IANS) Chinese authorities have announced implementing a new daily quota of 65,000 visitors, starting from June 1, to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, aimed at limiting overcrowding of both local and foreign tourists.

"The number of tourists visiting the Badaling Great Wall Scenic Area is enormous," Chen Fei, deputy director of the Badaling District Office, told the media on Friday.

"About 10 million visitors came to Badaling last year."

Although 10 million is around the population of Sweden or Austria, it averages out to about 27,000 visitors per day -- much lower than the new limit. The problem, however, lies in the unbalanced distribution of that number, reports CNN.

"Visitor numbers during weekdays and holidays varies largely," Chen was quoted as saying.

"(Badaling) recorded a maximum of 100,000 visitors on one day while weekday visitor numbers average around 10,000 per day. The number can be only a few thousand visitors during the off-season."

In addition to the quota, there is a new online ticketing system -- both on Badaling's official website as well as its official Wechat page.

Admission tickets have to be purchased under each individual traveller's name, up to seven days in advance.

There will also be a three-grade warning system to indicate the congestion level of the Badaling section. Various crowd control procedures will be deployed when each of the signals is hoisted.

The yellow warning signal is flagged when visitor numbers reach 39,000 in one day; the orange warning signal is issued when there are 52,000 visitors on the wall; and the red signal is flagged when the wall has hit full capacity -- 65,000 visitors.

Other Chinese destinations like the Three Gorges Dam and Beijing's Palace Museum have also implemented visitor limits.