China's hotel and catering industry kept its rapid upwards trend and saw retail sales rise 25.8 percent year on year to 147.33 billion yuan (US$21.58 billion) in October, said the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the industry's retail sales totaled 1.25 trillion yuan during the January-October period, up 24.9 percent year on year. The growth rate is 6.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

The hotel and catering industry contributed 14.2 percent to the nation’s total domestic consumer goods retail sales during the same period.

Turnover from hotels with annual takings of 5 million yuan or above, and catering enterprises with takings of 2 million yuan or above, rose 19.5 percent to 347.78 billion yuan in the first ten months of this year. That accounted for 27.8 percent of the industry.

(China Daily November 18, 2008)