Rise seen in holiday tourism, spending

The week-long National Day holidays saw a consumption frenzy across the country, notably in the tourism sector, official data showed Monday, offering a sign of economic resilience despite the recent announcement of tepid manufacturing expansion in September.

Over the holidays, a total of 31.25 million tourists visited the country's 125 most popular tourist sites, up 6.8 percent from the previous year, the China National Tourism Administration said in a statement on its website.

Ticket revenues at these sites rose by 10.33 percent to 1.66 billion yuan ($270.3 million). the statement said.

The number of railway passengers from September 28 to October 5 hit a new high of approximately 65 million, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, citing data from China Railway Group, a spin-off of the now defunct Ministry of Railways.

The rise in the number of Chinese tourists led to large crowds at domestic sites, and also an increase in those heading to overseas destinations.

"We can get more enjoyment out of overseas tours, where the crowds are smaller," 50-year-old Liu Junmiao, a middle school teacher from North China's Shanxi Province, told the Global Times Monday, after getting back from her family's trip to Malaysia during the holidays.

Liu was also impressed by the availability of cheaper cosmetics products in Malaysia, noting that overseas tourism will be her priority for future holidays.

In addition to the tourism boom, the holidays saw a sharp rise in consumption in areas including retail, weddings and other celebrations.

Sales revenues of China's retail and catering companies monitored by the Ministry of Commerce reached 870 billion yuan from October 1 to 7, a 13.6 percent year-on-year increase, the ministry said in a statement posted Monday on its website.

Figures released Monday by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce showed that the city's 110 key services enterprises recorded sales revenues of 6.71 billion yuan during the holidays, up 8.9 percent year-on-year.

The holidays are also a popular time for big celebrations such as weddings.

An article published Sunday by Wuhan Morning Post revealed one Web user's concern about having received invitations to 12 weddings during the holidays, owing to the substantial amount of expenditure required for wedding gifts.

The rise in holiday consumption has been seen as an indicator of the resilience of the economy, even though less rosy information was released Tuesday last week, with a below par reading of the official Purchasing Managers' Index for September.

The index rose to 51.1 for the month, up 0.1 points from August, a smaller rise than the market had expected.

The economy is "unlikely to see a sharp slowdown," as the strong tourism data during the holidays suggests "stable employment, rising wages and robust consumer confidence," Lu Ting, China economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, said in a note sent to the Global Times on Thursday.