More than a quarter of a billion people visited officially recognized ‘scenic spots’, spending 116.6 billion yuan (US$17.5 billion) during the recent National Day golden week holiday, Xinhua is reporting.
Tourist traffic was up 27.1 percent over the same period last year, with spending up by nearly a third. These strong numbers suggest that there is still plenty more room for growth in China’s domestic tourist market.
More than 57 million people took to the skies when traveling during the seven-day holiday, which celebrated the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said that the number of air passengers grew by 24 percent over the 2009 National Day holiday, but the number of flights had only grown by 5.3 percent.
Train traffic in China set new records, with more than eight million passengers riding the country’s rails in one day. During the period from October 1 through 7, more than 63 million people traveled by train, a jump of 24 percent over the same period last year.
As more and more Chinese discover the joys of travel, sustainability is becoming increasingly important. This is one of the reasons that WildChina joined the board of directors of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) this year, with founder Mei Zhang as its representative.
WildChina looks forward to continuing to work with the GSTC and other organizations, businesses and individuals to achieve the goal of sustainable travel in China – and beyond.
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Photo credit: Cherry, WildChina student traveler
