(Yicai) June 23 -- China’s domestic tourism market remained resilient over the recent three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday with domestic travel expenditure rising 4 percent year on year to CNY44.4 billion (USD 6.5 billion), highlighting continued momentum in consumer demand.

The number of domestic trips increased 4.4 percent during the break, which ran from June 19 to June 21, from a year earlier to 124 million, while spending on domestic travel jumped 4 percent to CNY44.4 billion, according to estimates from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

During the first two days of the holiday, foot traffic at 78 key pedestrian shopping streets and business districts increased 4 percent from the same period last year while sales revenue climbed 3.5 percent, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Traditional activities helped attract visitors. Guangdong province was the country’s most popular destination over the holiday, thanks to hundreds of dragon boat events, according to data from online travel agency Tongcheng Travel. This pushed hotel bookings in the southern province to among the highest nationwide. Hotels near race venues saw particularly high demand. Southwestern Sichuan and central Hunan provinces were also popular destinations.

In addition to traditional Dragon Boat Festival activities such as dragon boat racing and making zongzi, which are sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, tourists were drawn to cultural experiences such as visiting ancient towns, taking lantern boat cruises and participating in photography sessions wearing Hanfu, or traditional Chinese clothing.

The Dragon Boat Festival’s diverse regional traditions create strong tourism appeal and can quickly attract visitors from other regions, said Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy. This, in turn, boosts revenue for scenic areas, homestays, restaurants and retailers.

Inbound tourism also showed strong growth. Beijing welcomed 87,000 international visitors during the holiday, an increase of 31.2 percent from a year ago. Spending by inbound tourists soared 31.4 percent to CNY950 million (USD140 million).

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport processed over 100,000 inbound and outbound passengers and more than 670 flights during the holiday period. Foreign arrivals accounted for more than 20,000 of these travellers, a jump of 35 percent from a year earlier, and the top three source countries were Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.

Editor: Kim Taylor