Tourists visit the Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, on Oct 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

To travel, or not to travel? This is the question that comes to many Chinese people's minds before the National Day holiday starts. Now reality may have proved that those who chose to stay at home made the right choice, as photos circulated widely online show how the country's scenic spots were jammed with people during the week-long holiday.

Statistics from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) on Friday showed that China's major tourist attractions received over 590 million tourists - nearly half of the country's population - during this year's holiday, up 12.8% from the same time last year. The travel spree helped create a tourism income of over 480 billion yuan ($72 billion), up 14.4% from 2015.