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China's tourism has seen a huge spike during the Spring Festival holiday from January 27 to February 2. Chinese mainland tourists made a record 6.15 million trips to overseas destinations during the holiday, a 7% increase compared with the figures of last year's Spring Festival. Official statistics show 374,000 trips were organized by travel agencies, with a 2.5% rise. The travel website ctrip.com earlier estimated that Chinese tourists were expected to spend over RMB 100 billion overseas, up 11.5% YoY. Reuters reported that China's tourism industry is key to the country's shift towards a more services-driven economy and is a useful indicator of the strength of consumer spending.
The domestic sector raked in RMB 3.9 trillion in 2016, which Beijing wants to raise to RMB 7 trillion by 2020, official news agency Xinhua said. China's retail and catering firms saw sales over the week-long holiday of around RMB 840 billion yuan, the commerce ministry said in a separate statement, up 11.4% over 2016. The booming domestic sector saw a rise in revenue to RMB 423.3 trillion, or some USD 61.6 trillion this year, up by 15.9% YoY. As the Olympic Winter Games is going to be held in China in 2022, tourism at winter sites have gained increasing popularity. |
