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A couple at the Tiananmen Square at the end of April. Beijing received millions of tourists from home and abroad during the three-day May holiday. Zheng Shuai / China Daily |
Tourism in Beijing registered robust growth in the first quarter of this year, according to the city's tourism authority, with more than 43 million arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 9.3 percent.
Revenues from the industry in Beijing reached 69 billion yuan ($11 billion), a 9 percent rise from the same period a year earlier.
Amid the backdrop of tightening property and auto markets, tourism has become an important factor contributing to the city's economic growth, said a spokesman from the Beijing Travel Committee, which is responsible for planning and promoting growth of the industry.
"Consumption and investment brought by the development of tourism have become a driving force for Beijing's GDP during the first quarter," said a spokesman from the tourism authority.
Visitors to Beijing spent 37 billion yuan on shopping and dining during the period, a year-on-year increase of 8.2 percent. Tourists accounted for 20 percent of the city's retail sales, according to statistics from the committee.
The city has now invested more than 9 billion yuan to upgrade tourism infrastructure and management.
"Instead of the simple figures of how many people have come and how much they spent in Beijing, we are calculating tourism's influence on the city's economy," the spokesman said.
Domestic tourists remain the majority arrivals, with more than 42 million visitors to the city in the first three months, up 9.3 percent from last year.
There was also a sharp increase in the number of Beijing residents who explored scenic spots near the city in their spare time, statistics showed.
The average nightly room rate for star-rated hotels was 510 yuan in first three months of the year, a 9.5 percent increase over the same period in 2011. The occupancy rate hit 53 percent, a historical high.
Outbound tourism from Beijing has also surged as the weather turned warm.
"It is now the prime time to see the sakura cherry blossoms. Our bookings to Japan are full until the end of May," said a manager at Beijing UTS International Travel Service.
More than 540,000 tourists from Beijing traveled on organized overseas sightseeing tours in the first quarter, a sharp year-on-year increase of 52 percent, according to statistics from the Beijing Travel Committee.
Increased promotions from overseas destinations in Beijing and a stronger Chinese currency are among the reasons for the spike in foreign tours, information from the committee said.
The most popular destinations remain in Asia with the top five comprised of Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/25/2012 page20)
