Retailers ring up record $86b

Meanwhile, some other robust numbers also suggested growing consumer confidence since the start of 2013.

Data from the China National Tourism Administration released on Friday show that 76 million tourists visited 39 key tourism cities during the Spring Festival holiday, up 15 percent from a year earlier.

Beijing alone pocketed 3.88 billion yuan in tourism revenue, up 15 percent year-on-year, local officials said, as 8.68 million tourists visited the capital, an increase of 7.5 percent year-on-year. Toll-free expressways during the holiday also boosted numbers from other cities by 18.3 percent against last year.

The national tourism administration said 4 million Chinese traveled overseas on holiday during the break, 90 percent of them headed to Asian destinations, the most popular being Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong.

According to local travel agents, their international counterparts have been making huge efforts this year to attract more high-spending Chinese tourists, hiring interpreters, for instance, and printing bilingual brochures.

South Korea had expected 630,000 Chinese tourists during the holiday, while United States officials had said that Chinese tourists now represented the fastest-growing group with numbers expected to double in the next three years.

"The robust overseas shopping, mostly seen among the middle class, reflects China's fast economic growth and opening up in the past decades," Ding added.

lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn

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