Newman Huo
SHENZHEN raked in 3.55 billion yuan (US$520 million) in tourism revenues during the eight-day National Day holidays, up 19.86 percent compared with last year’s holidays, the city’s holiday office said Friday.
The city also received 4.26 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 17.06 percent.
The city’s 90 travel agencies received 97,700 domestic and foreign tourists, up 27.3 percent over last year’s holidays, and organized international travel for 13,300 tourists, up 65.51 percent, the office said.
The city’s 30 major tourist spots monitored by the office received 4.61 million visitors, an increase of 16.17 percent over last year’s holidays.
The four big tourist spots under the OCT Group, including Happy Valley, Window of the World, OCT East and Splendid ChinaChina Folk Culture Villages, received 611,000 tourists, up 4.27 percent over last year’s holidays.
The city government organized 1,535 cultural, sporting and tourism activities citywide for city residents and tourists to choose from during the holidays.
A survey conducted by the city’s holiday office among 1,000 domestic and foreign tourists shows that only 0.4 percent showed dissatisfaction regarding the quality of tourism services in the city.
Among these, 9.4 percent of domestic tourists were dissatisfied with toilets in the city’s tourist spots, and 7.8 percent were dissatisfied with the city’s public transportation.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen’s retailers realized a 16 percent increase in sales by holding a range of promotions during the National Day holidays.
Five major retailers in Shenzhen, including Rainbow, Shirble and Carrefour, sold goods worth 632 million yuan in the first eight days of the month, up 16.23 percent from a year earlier, according to figures released by the city’s statistics bureau.
