Spring Festival tourism revenue up 15.4 pct

BEIJING - Tourism revenue in China rose 15.4 percent year on year during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, the National Tourism Administration said Saturday.

Tourism revenue reached 117.06 billion yuan (18.79 billion U.S. dollars) during the holiday that began last Saturday, according to a statement released by the administration.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, fell on February 10 this year. It is the most important holiday for Chinese, who mostly celebrate with family reunions.

About 5.72 billion yuan of the total tourism revenue came from airlines, while 2.73 billion yuan came from railways. Tourists spent 44.19 billion yuan in the country's 39 key tourism cities and 64.42 billion yuan in other regions.

The number of tourists during the Spring Festival holiday topped 203 million across the country, up 15.1 percent from the same period last year, the statement said.