China has witnessed a 10.4 per cent surge in tourist numbers, the first day of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, with the number of visitors touching a record 50.5 million, officials said today.
In Beijing alone, 294,000 tourists visited the city's 160 key scenic spots yesterday, the first day of the Chinese New Year of the Rooster celebrations.
Tourist-generated income climbed to 59 billion yuan (USD 8.67 billion), up 13.3 per cent from one year earlier, the China National Tourism Administration said.
China was yesterday officially shutdown for a week to welcome the Chinese New Year of the Rooster amid the biggest annual human migration as people rushed to their native places to celebrate with their family members.
Northwestern Gansu province received 860,500 travellers, up 22.1 per cent year on year. The province reaped tourist revenues of 520 million yuan (USD 75 million), up 25.9 per cent year on year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In terms of outbound tourism, Phuket and Bangkok of Thailand, Nha Trang of Vietnam, Bali of Indonesia, and Singapore were among most popular destinations.
It is estimated that over six million Chinese people will travel abroad during the holiday.
Meanwhile, over 14.2 billion e-gift red packets, knowns as "hongbao", were distributed through WeChat, China's instant messaging app, during the Chinese new year being celebrated today.
This is 75.7 per cent higher than last year, according to WeChat, operated by Tencent.
Some 340 million users, also a record high, shared red packets on QQ, another social media platform under Tencent, the report said.
It is customary to distribute red packets with money to near and dear ones.
New forms of red packets such as "face-to-face and AR red packets" were adopted.
Lin Yuwen, a Beijing resident, said he distributed red packets totaling 1,200 yuan (USD 175) yesterday, almost double the amount last year.
The Chinese Lunar New Year, which this year is the Year of the Rooster, fell today. It is common for Chinese to distribute "hongbao," traditionally money in red envelopes, among friends and relatives during Spring Festival.
Analysts say the electronic red packets are used by Internet giants to expand their shares in the mobile payment market.
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