People spend time at the swimming area of Gongshui river in Xuan'en County, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hubei Province, Aug. 5, 2020. (Photo by Song Wen/Xinhua)

Tens of thousands of domestic tourists flooded to Central China's Hubei Province on Saturday, the first day the province's free admission policy took effect, with iconic tourist spots in Wuhan, the city hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year, seeing three times the number of tourists than in previous periods.

On Saturday, the first day of free admission, most tourist attractions in Wuhan, provincial capital of Hubei, witnessed a skyrocketing number of visitors. The Yellow Crane Tower, one of the city's top scenic spots, welcomed more than 12,000 tourists from 8:30 am to 5 pm, three times the number that recently visited, reported local media. 

The Yellow Crane Tower normally charges 70 yuan (approximately $10) per visitor. 

Zhang Wenbing, deputy governor of Hubei, announced on Friday that some 400 top tourist attractions in the province will be offering free entry to domestic tourists until the end of the year, as "a token of gratitude for the nation's assistance to Hubei during the COVID-19 outbreak". 

Hubei will also invite medical workers, local community workers and volunteers who assisted the province during the pandemic to visit its tourist attractions for free, Zhang said at the press conference. 

To ensure public health security, the tourist sites will cap the number of visitors at half of their maximum daily capacity. Online reservations are required, and visitors must undergo temperature screening before entering. 

Hubei Province, the first province that reported the outbreak of the COVID-19 in China, has been the focus of the country's attentions since January. In June, the city of Wuhan registered zero new cases after mass testing of some 10 million citizens. So far, 94.5 percent of A-level tourist attractions in Hubei have reopened to the public. 

One netizen commented, "I used to hate seeing crowds at scenic spots, until I realized it meant peace and prosperity."