The more than 73.76 million people who traveled during the week-long Labor Day holiday also spent like crazy, according to the latest report issued by the national tourism office.

The total sales in 50 major department stores across the country surpassed 1.49 billion yuan, up 19.6 percent compared with the same period of last year. The retail sales reached 1.16 billion yuan, up 24.4 percent.

"People flooded to major scenic locales in cities, causing a busy time in shops," said Sun Gang, vice director of China National Tourism Administration.

In the popular destination of Beijing, the sales in shops of major business districts were 1.7 times than that of the non- vacation period.

And sales in 25 major tourism cities, including Tsingtao, Dalian and Xi'an increased dramatically, with over 50 percent of shoppers being tourists.

During the holiday, the department stores lured people with a range of products, aiming to capitalize on people's extra time and money.

Many tourism-related items sold well. In Beijing Department Store, for example, more than 300 cameras were sold each day of the holiday. Experts pointed out that the tourism boom has meant fat profits for China's tourism-related businesses such as catering and hotels, thus contributing significantly to the country's economic growth, especially the long-sluggish domestic demand.

(People’s Daily 05/11/2001)