The Chinese mainland received 63.29 million travelers from Jan. 22 to Jan. 28, the golden week of the traditional Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar New Year, according to the 2004 Spring Festival Travel Report released by the National Holiday Office on Thursday.

The number of incoming travelers rose by 6.4 percent from the same period last year. And the total travel revenue during this Spring Festival golden week reached 28.96 billion yuan (some US$3.5 billion), up 12.4 percent from the same period last year.

Among the total revenue, civil aviation realized 1.5 billion yuan and railroad transportation also reaped nearly 1.5 billion yuan (US$180 million). About 13.4 billion yuan (some US$1.6 billion) was earned by 31 major tourism cities around China and other 12.6 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) went to other cities and the country's well-known scenic spots.

The travel market throughout the country was in good order and over 90 percent of travelers were contented with their tours during the golden-week holiday period.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2004)