China receives 120m New Year tourists

BEIJING - The New Year travel rush saw 120 million visitor trips in China, official estimates showed Monday.

The tourism sector pocketed 67.9 billion yuan (about $9.8 billion) during the three-day break from Dec 31 to Jan 2, according to the National Tourism Administration.

About 112 million of the trips were short-distanced due to limited time, the agency said, adding that rural and suburban trips are tourists' favorite.

Some 26.73 million passengers trips were made on trains, another 2.6 million on flights, data from transportation authorities showed.

A State Council five-year tourism plan (2016-2020) says China will strive to develop tourism into a major driver for economic transformation and upgrades, with tourism revenue hitting 7 trillion yuan by 2020.