(Yicai) Oct. 9 -- Domestic tourists spent CNY700.8 billion (USD99.2 billion) during China’s week-long National Day holiday, also known as Golden Week, reflecting a robust recovery in the tourism and entertainment sectors.

Tourism spending rose 6.3 percent between Oct. 1 and 7 from a year earlier and 7.9 percent from the same period of 2019, Zheng Shanjie, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference in Beijing yesterday.

The National Day holiday is a major annual break when hundreds of millions of Chinese mainlanders travel across the country to meet relatives and friends and to see the sights. The number of domestic trips totaled 765 million this year, up 6 percent on last year.

The number of commercial performances jumped nearly 15 percent to 44,300, with the revenue from ticket sales for these entertainments up 26 percent to CNY2.2 billion (USD310 million).

Beijing had 21.6 million visitors over the holiday period, an 18 percent annual increase, with the capital’s tourism revenue soaring 12 percent to CNY26.9 billion (USD3.9 billion), according to the city’s own data. Both figures set new record highs.

Meanwhile, Shanghai welcomed more than 18.6 million visitors, basically the same number as in 2023, according the city’s statistics. But its income from tourism rose 4.6 percent to CNY26.9 billion in the period.

Hainan province was also a very popular destination, with most mainland visitors to China’s southernmost island hailing from the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

The ranks of Hainan’s inbound visitors surged 56 percent from a year earlier. The top 10 countries for visitors to the tropical getaway were Russia, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Australia, Germany, and Vietnam.

Editor: Futura Costaglione