China's Hospitality Industry Sales Up In H1

According to the latest statistics released by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of 2009, China's accommodation and catering industry showed a year-on-year growth of 18.1% with total retail sales being CNY851.4 billion, despite the impact of the global financial crisis.

Developed coastal areas have been more influenced by the crisis. For example, the year-on-year growth of Guangdong's accommodation and catering industry was 13.3%; the year-on-year growth of Beijing's catering industry was 13.6%; the year-on-year growth of Tianjin's accommodation industry was 9.2%; while year-on-year growth of Zhejiang's accommodation and catering industry was only 4.5%.

In central and western China the accommodation and catering industry still maintains a relatively high growth. The growth of Inner Mongolia was 21.5%, Jilin was 24.2%, and Sichuan was 22.5%.