From May 1 to 7, Shanghai played host to 3.32 million tourists from other parts of China, up 3.75 percent from a year earlier, while visitors from overseas increased 10 percent.

Revenue from the tourism sector rose 24.83 percent year-on-year to 1.86 billion yuan (US$224.09 million), according to Shanghai Statistics Information Network.

The occupancy rate in the city's hotels averaged 73 percent, 3 percentage points higher than expected.

During the seven days, the city's 178 leading retailers raked in sales of 1.11 billion yuan at their 2,000 outlets, a revenue increase of 10.2 percent from the same period last year, Shanghai Commercial Commission reported yesterday.

Record crowds strolled the main shopping areas in search of bargains. From April 20 to May 7, Nanjing Road pedestrian mall posted 298.91 million yuan in sales, a 4.4 percent increase, while the cash registers in the Yuyuan Garden area - a favorite among foreigners - jumped 12.6 percent to 60.17 million yuan.

Sales were flat in the department stores, however, according to Shanghai Daily telephone interviews.

"For department stores, holiday economics creates an opportunity only for customers to fulfill a several-month spending plan in several days, while spending was boosted on dining out, entertainment and tourism," said Zhang Youwen, deputy chief of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Finance Institute.

The commercial commission said the big winners were the restaurants.

"As earnings increase, more families are unwilling to spend long hours in the kitchen; instead they prefer to dine out and devote more time to entertainment," said Chen Yuxian, of the commercial commission.

Home electrical appliances were a hit because of sizable price cuts. Bargain-hunters snapped up 3,000 low-priced Panda color TVs in two days. Changhong sold 1,200 air conditioners daily, double weekend sales before the holiday.

A lot of cash was needed, of course, to fuel all that spending.

The local branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said yesterday that more than 800,000 owners of its "Peony Card" from Shanghai and other provinces withdrew around 280 million yuan from its 700 automatic teller machines in the city during the seven-day holiday, up almost 40 percent from a year earlier.

(Eastday.com 05/09/2001)