China's tourism revenue up 27 pct for Spring Festival holiday

China's tourism revenue rose 27 percent during the Spring Festival holiday from the same period last year, the National Tourism Administration said in an online statement posted on Wednesday.

The revenue reached 82.05 billion yuan (12.44 billion U.S. dollars) during the week-long holiday which began last Wednesday, according to the statement.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar New Year, fell on Feb. 3 this year. It is the most important festival for people of Chinese origin and is an occasion for reunions of family members and relatives.

About 5.2 billion yuan of the total tourism revenues came from airlines, while 3.11 billion yuan came from railways. Tourists spent 33.05 billion yuan in the country's 39 key tourism cities and 40.69 billion yuan in other regions.

The number of tourists during the Spring Festival holiday topped 153 million across the country, up 22.7 percent from the same period last year, the statement said.

Source = xinhuanet