Crowds of visitors wait on Mount Putuo in Zhoushan for the ferry to leave the island on the afternoon of Feb 7. [Photo/zhoushan.cn]

Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province proved to be a hot destination during the Spring Festival holiday, with tens of thousands of tourists flocking to its various islands despite the rainy and windy weather. 

Statistics from the Putuoshan Passenger Station show that more than 150,000 people entered and exited the Mount Putuo Scenic Spot by the end of 6:00 pm on Feb 7, the third day of the first lunar month, with its entrance recording a year-on-year increase of nearly 8 percent of tourists. 

It has been a tradition for Chinese visitors and Buddhist pilgrims to worship the Buddha and pray for blessings during the Spring Festival for a long time, and Mount Putuo as one of China's top four Buddhist mountains enjoys much popularity among the public.

However, the huge number of visitors brought a large burden to the city's traffic system, as the transportation from Zhoushan Island to other small islands relies mainly on ferries, causing long queues at the passenger station. 

"At least 15 to 30 minutes are needed for each to wait in the line for a ticket to Mount Putuo," said a guard at the Putuoshan Passenger Station.

In addition, since the high-speed rail hasn't reached the city yet, the cross-sea bridge connecting Ningbo and Zhoushan was crowded with cars and buses carrying visitors from around the country, causing frequent traffic jams. 

Fortunately, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway project is being planned, which will shorten the time from Zhoushan to Ningbo and Hangzhou to only 30 and 75 minutes, respectively, when completed.