(Yicai Global) Oct. 8 -- China's week-long National Day Golden Week holiday has stimulated growth in retail and food sales as over 600 million people set about to travel in the country. Many consumers pampered themselves by buying high-quality consumer goods such as ultra-high-definition televisions and smart household products. 

Retail and catering sales amounted to about CNY1.4 trillion (USD203.8 billion) from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, and average daily sales jumped 10 percent from the same holiday period last year, latest statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce show. 

Passenger volume during the seven days is expected to reach 616 million while transport modes of railway and civil aviation have become more popular. The number of railway passengers is anticipated to jump 10 percent to almost 99 million. The number of those who took a flight rose 9 percent to 12.2 million. Transport by cars and buses stayed largely unchanged while fewer people traveled by boats this year. 

Sales of organic foods, fashionable apparel, gold, silver and jewelry, and environmentally friendly house furnishing materials were booming. Sales of smartphones, ultra-high-definition TVs, intelligent household products and automobiles were also on the rise.

Prices of daily necessities remained stable during the Golden Week, MOFCOM added. 

Newly emerged consumption patterns such as online shopping, meal takeaway, home leasing, mobile payments and customized travel packages flourished. Some food and beverage takeout platforms logged a 50 percent increase in orders and other platforms focusing on e-commerce services reported a 20 percent jump in trading volume during the first six days of the week. 

Editor: Emmi Laine