In October this year the total retail sales of the accommodation and catering industries in China reached 96.5 billion yuan (US$12.27 billion), according to the website of the Ministry of Commerce. This is a year-on-year increase of 17.9 percent and 3.6 percent higher than the level of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

 

In the first ten months from January to October, the retail sales of accommodation and catering totaled 845.8 billion yuan (US$107.55 billion). This is a net increase of 117.71 billion yuan (US$14.97 billion) or 16.2 percent from the same period last year. The figure accounts for 13.6 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

 

In these ten months 879 foreign-funded accommodation and catering enterprises were newly established. This is a drop of 7.2 percent compared with the same period of 2005. The contracted foreign investment rose to US$2.29 billion which is an increase of 10.4 percent. The paid-in foreign capital increased by 36.4 percent to US$620 million. 

 

(China.org.cn by Zhou Jing, November 24, 2006)