SHENZHEN received 8.94 million tourist trips during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, an 8.3% year-on-year increase. The city’s tourism revenue hit 9.88 billion yuan (US$1.35 billion), a 12.5% increase year on year, data from the city’s tourism authority showed.

According to Ctrip, one of China’s leading travel portals, Shenzhen ranked first as China’s top destination for international tourists and fourth for domestic sightseers during the holiday.

During the period, the city recorded 1.18 million trips by international tourists, a year-on-year increase of 18%.

The top 10 source countries for international travelers were South Korea, the U.S., Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the U.K., Thailand, Russia, Australia, and France.

The city’s tourism and culture administration collaborated with over 100 businesses to launch nearly 600 activities during the holiday, covering dining, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment.

Key tourism attractions across the city recorded 2.85 million tourist trips, marking a 1.8% increase compared to the same period last year, with the total operating revenue exceeding 1.5 billion yuan. The night light shows in the Futian CBD attracted over 200,000 viewers during the holiday.

Furthermore, Shenzhen promoted overnight tourism by enhancing the quality of accommodation and consumption experiences to encourage visitors to extend their stays.

Data from Ly.com, a leading Chinese online travel platform, showed that Shenzhen was the seventh most popular city for hotel bookings during the holiday.

Shenzhen’s star-rated hotels received over 108,000 guests in the eight days, marking a year-on-year increase of 14.42%.

Nationally, China witnessed a record 501 million domestic tourist trips during the holiday, up 5.9% year on year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism yesterday. Tourists spent over 677 billion yuan on their trips, a 7% year-on-year increase.

(Han Ximin)