Shanghai's retail sales rise to 3.2b yuan in holiday

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-26 10:20

Shanghai's retail sales rose 14.4 percent from a year earlier to 3.2 billion yuan (US$413 million) during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday from February 18.

A picture taken from a street in Shanghai during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. The city's retail sales rose to 3.2 billion yuan (US$413 million) during the weeklong holiday. [Shanghai Daily]

Supermarkets earned 1.98 billon yuan in revenue during the week, up 10.1 percent, and shopping malls' turnover grew 22.2 percent to 743 million yuan.

Spending in restaurants grew 15.4 percent to 91.44 million yuan, stimulated by wedding ceremonies and family banquets, with the average price of a table of dishes totaling 1,500 yuan.

Meanwhile, consumers spent 220 billion yuan in China during the week, growing 15 percent from a year earlier, said sources with the Ministry of Commerce yesterday. Spending in the country's catering industry surged 18 percent in the period.

Beijing hosted 2.4 million tourists in the period, up 14.7 percent, who spent 1.96 billion yuan in the city, an increase of 4.7 percent.

Retail sales in Beijing rose 11.8 percent to 15.69 billion yuan.

Ninety-five percent of the restaurants in Beijing received reservations for family reunion dinners during the holiday.

Henan Province received 6.05 million tourists in the period, booming 26.4 percent, who spent 2.08 billion yuan, increasing 19.9 percent.

A total of 14.67 million people traveled in Sichuan Province in the period, growing 21.9 percent, and spent 3.8 billion yuan, rising 31.5 percent.

China launched three Golden Week holidays from 1999 -- the Spring Festival holiday, May 1 Labor Day holiday and October 1 National Day holiday ¨C to encourage people to spend more money and benefit economic growth.

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