Retails sales and the number of tourists throughout the Golden Week holiday broke records in China's tourism industry.

This year's National Day holiday, which marks the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China, ran from Sept. 29 through Oct. 5.

Figures released by the National Tourism Administration (NTA) on its website showed the country's 119 major tourist destinations received more than 18.29 million visitors. That's an increase of 13.2 percent from a year earlier. Without giving an exact number, the NTA also said ticket sales rose by 16.4 percent from last year.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Commerce reported the country's retail sales during the Golden Week exceeded 420 billion yuan (about 61.3 billion U.S. dollars), jumping 21 percent from the same holiday last year.

The NTA said Beijing and Olympic co-host cities like Qingdao and Shanghai witnessed a surge of tourists.

For example, Beijing municipal bureau of tourism said Sunday, the city had 35 percent more tourists, many of whom visited Olympic venues.

At least 8.02 million people visited Beijing between Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, including 2.35 million overseas visitors. That amounts to 5.25 billion yuan in tourist revenue, up 27 percent from the previous National Day holiday.

The Olympic Park, home to the Bird's Nest National Stadium and Water Cube Aquatics Center, attracted more than 2.82 million visitors during the Golden Week.

The busiest day at Olympic Park was Oct. 2, with more than 520,000 visitors.

According to the NTA, many Chinese tourists traveled using private cars, which forced tourist destinations to expand parking lots. Family lodges and private hotels were quite popular during the holiday as well.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said the country's airlines carried 4.33 million passengers during the Golden Week, up 14.8 percent year on year.

A total of 33,416 flights were used to deliver travelers across the country during the holiday, an increase of 8 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Not everyone enjoyed the week off. The NTA said tourism authorities across the country received 279 complaints from tourists.

Four tourist-related accidents were reported in the week. Two tourists died and four were injured.

Another two tourists are still missing after they swam without permission in a no-swimming area off the southern Chinese Guangdong Province on Oct.

(Xinhua News Agency October 6, 2008)