Tourism was booming in China during the New Year's Day holiday, with passenger flow and tourist revenue both seeing quick growth, official data showed January 1.
A total of 133 million tourists traveled around the country during the three-day holiday, generating 75.5 billion yuan (about $11.6 billion) of revenue, according to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

The two figures represented increase of 11.08 percent and 11.22 percent year on year respectively, the CNTA said.

The market remained stable as rural tourism and snow and ice-related tourism were popular among tourists.

The booming tourism was accompanied by busy traffic. On December 31, 8.732 million passengers traveled by train, 17.3 percent higher year on year, according to China Railway Corporation (CRC).

To meet high traffic demand, the company added 261 temporary trains January 1.

China's domestic tourism industry earned about 3.9 trillion yuan in 2016, and the country plans to raise tourism revenue to 7 trillion yuan by 2020.

The nation will work to develop tourism into a major driver of economic transformation. By 2020, investment in tourism is expected to grow to 2 trillion yuan, and the sector will contribute more than 12 percent of GDP growth, according to a State Council five-year tourism plan (2016-2020).

(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2018)