NE China Jilin Province Welcomes More Tourists

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 ◆ NE China Jilin Province Welcomes More Tourists

Northeast China's Jilin Province registered 22.5 million arrivals of domestic and overseas tourists last year, up 30 percent from the previous year.

The tourists brought in 8.368 billion yuan (about one billion U.S. dollars) in revenue, up nearly 50 percent, according to the provincial tourism bureau.

The province has rich tourism resources. In recent months, it has offered a number of specially designed routes to tourists. It also staged special activities, such as the spectacular Changbai Mountain Ice Festival, Winter Hunting and Moon Watching, the Flower and Ice Sculpture Show and the Changchun International Tourism Festival.

The Chinese people's traditional habit of staying at home or at work during holiday periods has changed drastically in recent years. The tourism market during holidays is booming, and tourism revenues are on the rise, representing a sound development of what economists call the country's holiday economy.

The term holiday economy debuted in 1999, when the country's annual days off were increased to 114 days including weekends and public holidays, with three lengthened major holidays.

After that, people began to flock to tourism destinations during holidays, giving rise to a boom in domestic consumption. Meanwhile, services, transportation, entertainment and a series of tourism-related industries have been promoted.

With the burgeoning holiday tourism market at the beginning of the Chinese lunar Year of the Horse, economists believe that holiday tourism and entertainment industries will become leaders of the country's economic development this century.