Beijing sees brisk tourism business in 2011

The Chinese capital's tourism sector experienced a brisk year in 2011 as it received a record 200 million domestic travellers and five million visitors from overseas, according to a government document.

The number of domestic tourists to Beijing rose about 15 percent from the previous year, said a statement released Sunday by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

The number of foreign tourists who stayed for at least one night broke the 5-million mark for the first time, posting an annual increase of 6 percent, much higher than the average increase rate of one percent for the whole country, said the statement.

Tourism revenue topped 300 billion yuan (47.6 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time, up 16 percent year-on-year, it said.

The industry contributed more to Beijing's economy in 2011, with tourism-related shopping and catering taking up 25 percent of the city's retail sales of consumer goods in 2011.

Investment in the sector accounted for about 9 percent of the city's total fixed asset investment, said the statement.

China has witnessed rapid growth in its tourism sector over the past few years. Tourism revenue soared 20.8 percent year-on-year to 2.25 trillion yuan in 2011, according to the National Tourism Administration.