2009-10-10 CRI Roundup
Hello and welcome to this edition of CRI Roundupbrought to you by China Radio International.
I'm Qizhi in Beijing.
Chinese people have enjoyed the longest ever National Day holidays, which ended on Thursday. They watched the grand military parade as part of the celebrations for the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic; they reunited with their families during the Mid-Autumn Festival; they then went shopping, traveling and relaxed in various ways.
In today's program, we'll find out how people managed to spur domestic consumption during the holiday.
Stay with us.
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This year, China's National Day holiday overlaps this year with the traditional Mid-Autumn festival, creating a record eight-day holiday.
Many people chose to travel to celebrate the longest ever public holiday.
Scenic spots across the country became crowded, while traffic in many areas became busy due to the high volume of people on the roads.
A manager from the Tianhe International travel agency in Chengde, a popular destination near Beijing, says the company's business has increased sharply during the holiday.
"Our business has seen an increase of more than 30 percent compared with the same period last year."
The holiday from October 1 to 8, provides Chinese tourists adequate time to take longer-distance sightseeing trips.
In Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the famous Kanasi scenic area attracted many sightseers from far away.
Dong Zining is a resident of northeast Heilongjiang province. She drove out to the scenic area to sample its beauty.
"Xinjiang is large and possesses many scenic spots. I just want to make use of the holiday to see and experience the natural beauty lying in this fairyland."
In the regional capital, Urumqi, tourists flooded to rural home restaurants to indulge in traditional local delicacies.
"The chicken we are eating here was raised by the farmers. Our host has also provided us with fresh, locally-planted vegetables. It's very good for us to experience genuine rural life and relax."
Meanwhile, tourism revenue in Beijing rose 3.1 percent year-on-year to a record high of 5.4 billion yuan, or 790 million US dollars.
Shanghai earned more than 670 million US dollars in tourism revenue, up 21 percent on last year's figure.
In total, senic spots around the country have received 228 million tourists during the holiday, with tourism revenue amounting to 14.8 billion US dollars.
For people who wanted to travel using their own cars, the holiday was also a good time for a purchase. Car sales were found to be boosted around the country, especially in Shenzhen and Chongqing.
Discounts for different car models ranged from 5,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan. Some dealers were even providing vehicle buyers with auto insurance.
Song Wei is the manager of an auto dealership in Shenzhen.
"On Monday alone we sold about 63 Nissans together with 39 BYDs. The level of sales has been very good during the holidays."
And more people were focusing on price and practicality when shopping for a new car.
Yang Hai is the manager of an auto sales and service dealership in Chongqing.
"We now have the orders for November already. Sales have been going very well. Supplies have even fallen short of demand."
As well as the popularity of smaller-engine displacement cars, domestic autos proved popular in Kunming, Yunnan province.
Zhou Run manages an auto dealership in Kunming.
"We have sold nearly 20 domestic cars in the past couple of days. That is twice the amount we sell in normal periods."
More people were opting for loans during this year's National Day holiday.
Liu Junli from Beijing already has a car but wanted to buy a second for work. He said he originally intended to buy a new car at the same time next year after saving enough money. But now he had found that car loans could be a great help.
"Buying a new car will cost me a large sum of money. Taking out a loan is a good option to purchase a car, and I can still have enough cash for something else. The repayment terms are acceptable. I think they are pretty good."
Above all, the holiday has brought around 570 billion yuan, or 83.5 billion US dollars in retail sales during the golden week holiday.
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And with that, we conclude this edition of CRI Roundup. If you have any comments or suggestions, or would like to listen to any of our other programs, you can visit our website at crienglish.com.
I'm Qizhi in Beijing.
Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for more on China Radio International.
