China received 97.9 million domestic tourists and earned 43.5 billion yuan (US$6.34 billion) in travel income during mid autumn festival.
According to data provided by Ctrip, a leading online travel service provider, the number of hotel bookings increased by 300% from a year earlier as most tourists chose to do a short regional trip. High-speed railway has also become the preferred way to travel.
People in mainland China enjoy one day off on the festival which is usually connected with the weekend. In Hong Kong and Macau, people also enjoy one day off. However, it is not scheduled on the festival day, but the following day and it is usually not connected with the weekend. In Taiwan, the one day holiday falls on the festival day.
The top ten cities in terms of hotel reservations are: Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Nanjing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Suzhou, and Chongqing. Among them, the order volume of Nanjing hotels has soared by more than 450% from a year earlier.
According to Liang Jianzhang, co-founder and chairman of Ctrip, in the long run, high-speed rail tour will account for one-fifth of the domestic tourism sector and drive 1 to 2 trillion yuan into the tourism economy.
