Beijing, Oct 09: The week-long National Day holiday in China saw some 90 million tourists travelling across the country, a record high since the "Golden Week" holiday scheme was initiated in 2000. The surge in tourism brought 4.2 billion dollars worth of income to shops, restaurants, hotels, scenic spots and various businesses in the tourism industry, which were hit hard by the outbreak of SARS earlier this year. The tourist arrivals nationwide from October 1 to 7 to seven jumped by 11.5 per cent over the same period last year, with their spending up 13.1 per cent, the national tourism administration said. Air carriers have benefitted greatly from the travel boom, with 200 million dollars in volume reported during the week, up 29.9 per cent year on year. The railways also took a share with over 128 million dollars worth of fares, up six per cent.
The gain is also an all-time high since the Chinese Central government allowed week-long holidays, known as 'Golden Week' for International Labour Day in May and National Day in October every year in 2000. Bureau Report