Chinese Mandarin - Consumption: Sales of China's hotel, catering sector exceed 1 trln yuan

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Consumption: Sales of China's hotel, catering sector exceed 1 trln yuan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-21 15:29

Retail sales of China's hotel and catering sector hit 1.03 trillion yuan
last year, an increase of 16.4 percent year on year.

The sector accounted for 13.5 percent of the country's total retail sales
of consumer goods last year, raising the national consumer product retail
volume by 2.2 percent and creating about 20 million jobs, said Su
Qiucheng, China Cuisine Association chairman, quoting figures of the
National Bureau of Statistics at a food fair here on Tuesday.

Foreign investment in the hotel and catering sector continued to grow,
recording actual foreign investment of 830 million US dollars as against
282 million US dollars in 2005.

Meanwhile, the sector's retail sales hit 205.91 billion yuan in the first
two months of 2007, an increase of 17 percent from the same period last
year.

Figures from the Ministry of Commerce showed the sector accounted for
14.2 percent of the country's total retail sales of consumer goods during
the period.

The number of newly approved foreign-funded hotels and catering projects
dropped 22 percent year-on-year to 103, with contracted foreign
investment totaling 220 million dollars, down 45.7 percent.

Actual foreign investment increased 5.8 percent to 140 million dollars,
said the ministry.

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