Beijing tourism revenue up 15% during holiday

Beijing reaped 3.88 Billion Yuan (617.8 Million US Dollars) in tourism revenue during this year’s seven-day Spring Festival holiday, up 15% year on year. China’s capital city received 8.68 million tourists during the holiday period from February 9 to 15, up 7.5% year on year, according to a statement from the municipal tourism commission carried by Xinhua News. Nearly 13% of the tourists were not from Beijing, up 18.3% from the previous year. The commission partly attributed the rise to the free highway passage policy introduced during the holiday. The Palace Museum received 300,000 tourists in the past seven days, it said. Over the holiday, 1.02 million tourists visited the fair at the Temple of Earth, the largest of its kind in the city, marking a 9% increase from last year, it said.