China's tourism is recovering from the global financial crisis, said a tourism official at the Central China Forum here on Saturday.

During the Spring Festival, China received 109 million domestic tourists, 24.7 percent up from 2007, said Zhu Shanzhong, vice director of the National Tourism Administration.

During the holiday, China achieved a profit of 50.9 billion yuan (about 7.5 billion U.S. dollars), 23.1 percent higher from the corresponding period in 2007, he said.

The three-day holiday for Tomb-sweeping Day saw another tourism peak this year.

"Despite the financial crisis that swept the world, China's tourism is developing and is expected to recover in the near future," Zhu said.

He believed that the industry was likely to play an important role in extending domestic demand and helping China to tide over the difficulty.

Six provinces in China, namely Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei and Shanxi, enjoy rich tourism resources. Zhu hopes that they could cooperate so as to boost the tourism industry.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2009)