China sees robust travel, spending during holiday

Chinese people have shown a strong passion for traveling and spending power during the just finished weeklong National Day holiday — from Oct 1 to Monday, with both the number of travelers and tourism-related revenue outperforming the pre-epidemic level.

Latest figures from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism show that domestic tourism spots received 765 million visits in the seven-day break, up 5.9 percent year-on-year and marking a rise of 10.2 percent from the same period of 2019 — the time before epidemic hit.

The tourism-related revenue also reached a record high of over 700.8 billion yuan ($99.3 billion) in the holiday, which registered a year-on-year rise of 6.3 percent and an increase of 7.9 percent from the level of 2019.

The ministry said that destinations highlighting traditional Chinese culture, night tour events and folk amusement activities such as Sichuan opera and shadow puppet plays were some of the most attractive to travelers, especially those of younger ages. It said that nearly 3,900 events focusing on demonstrating intangible cultural heritages were organized nationwide over the holiday.

According to the ministry, rural tourism destinations also saw surging tourists during the holiday and local authorities have made efforts to improve their tourism services like parking and dining to better travelers' experience.