Festival marks tourism peak

The figure represented a 7.6-percent increase compared with the holiday last year, the ministry said.

TOURISTS guess lantern riddles at Shangxiahang traditional block in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province as over 5 million visitors take part in the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. XINHUA

BEIJING, China (Xinhua) — A total of 105 million Chinese tourists traveled around the country during this year’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday which started Friday, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Sunday.

The figure represented a 7.6-percent increase compared with the holiday last year, the ministry said.

Domestic tourism revenue generated during the period totaled 47.28 billion yuan (around $6.7 billion), up 8.7 percent year on year, according to ministry figures.

Many events that promote family values, patriotism and traditional Chinese culture were held across China during the holiday, the ministry noted.

Among them was the Shanghai Tourism Festival opening ceremony on Saturday evening, which featured 32 performance groups from 19 countries and regions and attracted some 300,000 spectators.