A customer wraps meat skewers, green onions, and various sauces in a crispy pancake at a barbeque restaurant in Zibo, East China’s Shandong province. The once little-known city has become one of the hottest tourism destinations during the ongoing May Day holiday for its affordable and distinctive barbeque. Photo: VCG

Workers at a barbeque booth in Zibo hand grilled meat skewers to customers on Saturday. The city of about 4.7 million is expected to receive approximately 120,000 tourists during the May Day holiday, a staff member of the local publicity department told China Newsweek. Photo: VCG

Visitors flock to a local bridge on Saturday. On the first day of the May Day holiday, the number of hotel bookings in Zibo was nine times higher than over the same period in 2019, according to online travel giant Ctrip.com. Photo: VCG

Photographers and visitors gather Sunday for a “barbeque festival” in Zibo. The city’s notoriety has surged since March when videos showcasing its affordable local barbecue spread on social media, helping to draw around 4.8 million visitors to the city that month. That’s 100,000 more people than the entire population of Zibo. Photo: VCG

Waiters serve skewers to customers on Sunday outside a barbeque restaurant. There are more than 1,270 barbecue joints in the city, the president of the Barbecue Association of Zibo told China Newsweek. Photo: Huangpu Xiaowen/Xinhua

Visitors enjoy the food at an outdoor dining area on Sunday. Photo: VCG

A food street is crowded with visitors on April 21 in Zibo. Photo: VCG

Tourists visit the Zhong Shu Ge bookstore in the Haidai Tower in Zibo on Tuesday. Photo: VCG

Visitors line up to enter the Haidai Tower on Tuesday. Photo: IC Photo

Outside the railway station Tuesday, volunteers tell new arrivals which buses they can take to local barbecue restaurants. Photo: VCG

Passengers fill Zibo Railway Station on Tuesday. Travelers made a record-breaking 87,224 train trips to and from the station on Saturday, the first day of the long May Day holiday weekend. Photo: VCG