China's National Day holiday tourism revenue up 9 pct

BEIJING -- China's tourism industry has raked in over 599 billion yuan ($87 billion) in revenue from domestic tourists during the week-long National Day holiday, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) announced Monday.

The figure marks a year-on-year increase of 9.04 percent, the ministry said in a statement.

Chinese tourists made 726 million visits to parks, scenic spots, museums, concerts, and other recreational and cultural activities during the holiday, which ended Sunday, up 9.43 percent from a year earlier, according to the statement.

"Red tourism," which features visits to revolutionary sites, was popular during the holiday, said the MCT, citing that Gutian Township in southeastern province of Fujian, where a landmark gathering in 1929 established the principle of absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China over the army, received 256,000 tourists, registering a rise of 35.6 percent year on year.

Also, data revealed that during the holiday, over 90 percent of tourists took part in some culture-related activities, such as art festivals, music shows, cultural relic exhibitions and traditional craftsmanship shows.

More than 40 percent visited museums, galleries, libraries or science and technology centers.

Tourism activity and product markets featuring elements such as sports and health, education, science and technology and gourmet experiences also flourished, said the MCT.