China sees more tourists during New Year holiday

BEIJING, Feb 18 (Xinhua): China has hosted 214 million tourists in the first three days of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, up 9.7 per cent from the same period last year, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) said Saturday.

Tourism revenue rose 9.9 per cent to 258.2 billion yuan (about 40.69 billion US dollars) in the three-day period, the CNTA said.

On Saturday alone, some 870 million visitor trips were made across the country, CNTA data showed.

A total of 3.85 million passenger trips were made on Chinese railways Friday, the first day of the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, up 8.4 per cent from the same day last year.