The port city of Taicang in Jiangsu province is proving to be an increasingly popular tourist destination, according to the city's tourism bureau.

During the National Day holiday, Taicang received a total of 382,500 tourists; a large bulk of whom came from the neighboring municipality of Shanghai.

A countryside experience, cultural relics, family-friendly attractions and ecological tourism were the four appealing aspects of travel in Taicang, according to the bureau.

Approximately 90,000 visitors visited the Jincang Lake park in Chengxiang town. The park features wetland views and contains 66.7 hectares of water coverage. Six kilometers north of the park is the Shaxi old town, which attracted approximately 810,000 visitors to its network of ancient buildings, rivers and bridges, and well-preserved traditional cultures.

Tourists walk on a street in Shaxi old town, Taicang city, Jiangsu province.  Courtesy of Taicang Daily.

The Taicang Modern Agricultural Park drew in 28,200 visitors, while the Yanshan garden lured 290,000 visitors with its modern day amusement facilities.

The garden features traditional Chinese buildings and garden designs that were built over a time range of 1,000 years.

Many star-rated hotels offered discounted prices to tourists during the holiday. Occupancy rates of 12 hotels in the city reached 60 percent, up 5 percent from last year.

Rooms at the Rose Manor resort sold out rapidly, and the catering service reached maximum capacity during the holiday period.

Fans of river delicacies such as crab, spent night at the Yangtze River estuary tourism resort in Liuhe town to sample its delicious food.

The majority of tourists came from nearby cities of Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi and chose to drive to Taicang for a short stay of two to three days. Short-stay tourists made up more than 60 percent of the total number of visitors during the holiday, according to the bureau.

Information on Taicang's hotels and tourism attractions can be found on many reputable tourism websites, such as Ctrip.com, LY.com and Qunar.com. The city's tourism bureau also updates tourism information on its online portal, tctour.gov.cn; its Sina Weibo account, weibo.com/tc53526588; and WeChat portal, Taicang Tourism.

A greater number of tourists made reservations online. The number of bookings made through mobile devices also increased this year.