China sees nearly 24 mln domestic tourist trips on Qingming Festival

BEIJING -- China saw about 24 million domestic tourist trips made during the Qingming Festival, which falls on Wednesday, up 22.7 percent from last year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The trips were estimated to bring in 6.52 billion yuan (about $945 million) in tourist revenue, an increase of 29 percent year on year, said the ministry.

Unlike previous years, this year's Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, did not feature three straight days off through a weekend, meaning that many Chinese people took one-day sightseeing tours.

Data from Alibaba's travel branch Fliggy shows that bookings for tourism products soared six-fold on Wednesday compared with last year, with museums and amusement parks being hot destinations.