(Yicai) Oct. 9 -- China’s domestic tourists spent a total of CNY700.8 billion (USD99.2 billion) during the seven-day National Day Holiday, also known as Golden Week, according to the latest official data.

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

Domestic trips totaled 765 million during the Golden Week, up 6 percent from a year earlier. The number of commercial performances held in the period jumped nearly 15 percent to 44,300, with ticket sales revenue up 26 percent to CNY2.2 billion (USD310 million).

Beijing received 21.6 million tourists during the National Day holiday, up 18 percent from the same period last year, with tourism revenue soaring 12 percent to CNY26.9 billion (USD3.9 billion), according to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. Both figures were new record highs.

Meanwhile, Shanghai accepted over 18.6 million visitors for the seven-day holiday, basically unchanged from a year earlier, according to data from the local government. Tourism revenue rose 4.6 percent to CNY26.9 billion.

Hainan province was also a very popular destination during the Golden Week, with most domestic tourists visiting the southernmost island coming from first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Hainan’s inbound tourism also increased 56 percent in the period from a year earlier, with the top 10 countries of origin from visitors being Russia, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Australia, Germany, and Vietnam.

Editor: Futura Costaglione