The week-long National Day holiday has witnessed some 90 million tourists travelling across the country, a record high since the first "Golden Week" holiday in 2000.

Two US tourists try making "Zanba" a staple food for some of China's ethnic groups, in a Dong minority village in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region last week. "Zanba" is made by pounding sticky rice in a stone mortar. [newsphoto.com.cn]

The mass movement brought 34.6 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) worth of income to shops, restaurants, hotels, scenic spots and various businesses related to the tourist industry, which were hit hard by the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) earlier this year.

The tourist arrivals nationwide from October 1 to 7 jumped by 11.5 per cent over the same period last year, with their spending up 13.1 per cent, the National Tourism Administration announced yesterday.

Air carriers have benefited greatly from the travel boom, with 1.65 billion yuan (US$200 million) in volume reported during the week, up 29.9 per cent year on year. The railways also took a pleasing share with over 1 billion yuan (US$128 million) worth of fares, up 6 per cent.

The gain is also an all-time high since the State authority began week-long holidays, known as Golden Week for International Day of Labour in May and National Day in October every year in 2000.

"We are proud to declare that we have made exciting achievements economically and socially in this Golden Week," said Sun Gang, executive director of the National Holiday Office assigned by the administration.

Nobody dared to say anything like that during the Labour Day holiday starting on May 1 this year when Beijing, shadowed by the deadly epidemic of SARS, was empty of tourists.

Tourism income across the country plummeted, since people had to stay home for fear of the extremely contagious virus.

Close

Today's Top News		Top National News
+Foreign Minister: ASEAN visit fruitful ( 2003-10-09) +Journalists need ethical check-up ( 2003-10-09) +Women question early retirement ( 2003-10-09) +Divisive remarks of Chen under fire ( 2003-10-09) +Natural disasters claim 1,911 lives this year ( 2003-10-09)		+Holiday 'golden' for tourism industry ( 2003-10-09) +Accession of ASEAN treaty marks trust ( 2003-10-09) +Government bans coal-fired power stations ( 2003-10-09) +Cloned calf born in Shandong ( 2003-10-09) +Natural disasters claim 1,911 lives this year ( 2003-10-09)