Shanghai earned big bucks from tourism during the weeklong National Day holiday, the municipal government said.

By 5pm yesterday, 3.98 million tourists from both home and abroad visited the city, up 5 percent from a year ago, the local office responsible for coordinating holiday travel activity said. Tourists spent 2.3 billion yuan (US$277.11 million) during their stay, 12 percent more than last year.

Retail sales in the city were brisk, the Shanghai Economic Commission said yesterday. Sales jumped 19.5 percent from a year ago to 2.54 billion yuan, the commission said. The figures were based on a survey covering more than 3,000 stores.

"Travel and cultural spending due to the tourism festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday boosted sales," the commission said in a press release. "The fine weather also helped."

Supermarkets contributed the largest slice - 56 percent of total sales. Specialty stores posted the strongest year-on-year growth, a 33.5 percent increase that saw sales hit 419 million yuan.

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2004)