Consumer spending on China's hotel and catering industry hit
record highs last month, as the hotel industry develops, and food
prices rise.
Domestic hotels and restaurants generated record sales of 110
billion yuan (US$14.9 billion) for November, an increase of 21.6
percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said on its
Website yesterday.
The growth is 3.9 percent higher than the same period last year,
and 0.2 percent higher than in October.
Spending on hotels and restaurants for the first 11 months rose
by 18.9 percent to 1.11 trillion yuan, accounting for 13.9 percent
of total retail sales during the period.
Analysts say part of this can be attributed to the rise in food
prices since the beginning of this year.
In November, China's consumer prices, a main gauge of inflation,
jumped 6.9 percent from a year earlier, close to 11-year record of
seven percent set in December 1996.
Sales revenue was recorded at 134.7 billion yuan.
About 862 foreign-funded hotels and restaurants were established
in China between January and November this year.
Shen Zhouxiang, an analyst from CITIC Securities, said the hotel
industry is expected to pick up further in the lead-up to the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
The industry earned one-billion-yuan profit in 2005 after losing
money for seven years, according to a report from CITIC
Securities.
(Shanghai Daily December 26, 2007)