CHINA - Golden Harvest for Chinese Tourism

CNTA, 16-may-2007

179 million domestic travellers spent CNY73.6 billion (US$9.6 billion) during China (PRC)'s 20th Golden Week holiday, May 1-7.
Traffic results released by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) showed a 22.7% jump in domestic trips and a 25.8% leap in spending over the same period in 2006.

Over its 20-year history the Golden Week holidays have accounted for a combined 1.81 billion trips and generated CNY744 billion (US$97 billion) for the national economy said Mr Zhang Xiqin, who is National Holidays Ministerial Level Coordination Office Executive Director as well as CNTA Vice Chairman.

The 2007 numbers show 45.86 million overnight stays at hotels and 133 million day trips. The transportation sector reaped CNY4.69 billion (US$610.5 million) in sales, while 39 key cities tallied CNY29.1 billion (US$3.8 billion) in tourism revenue. Retailers enjoyed 17.9% more sales and restaurants 10.9% more business than last year.