Tourism investment hit 206b yuan in '11

BEIJING - Investment in China's tourism industry hit 206.4 billion yuan ($32.8 billion) last year, according to data from the National Tourism Administration (NTA) issued Wednesday.

Private investment accounted for 39 percent of the total, said Wu Wenxue, a senior NTA official.

Investment by the government and State-owned enterprises accounted for 25 and 13 percent of the total, respectively, Wu said at a press briefing.

Meanwhile, 23 percent of the total came from bank loans, Wu said.

Scenic areas, vacation resorts and the renovation of tourist cities took 66 percent of the investment, while investment in restaurants and hotels accounted for 18 percent, data showed.

Wu said China's economically developed eastern region was the top spot for tourism investment, consuming more than half of the total investment last year.

As of the end of 2011, accumulative investment in tourism projects nationwide totaled 2.67 trillion yuan, the data showed.