The week long National Day holiday has witnessed some 90 million tourists travelling across the country, a record high since the first "Golden Week; holiday in 2000.

The mass movement brought 34.6 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) worth of income to shops, restaurants, hotels, scenic spots and various businesses related to the tourist industry, which were hit hard by the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) earlier this year.

The tourist arrivals nationwide from October 1 to 7 jumped by 11.5 per cent over the same period last year, with their spending up 13.1 per cent, the National Tourism Administration announced Wednesday.

Air carriers have benefitted greatly from the travel boom, with 1.65 billion yuan (US$200 million) in volume reported during the week, up 29.9 per cent year on year. The railways also took a pleasing share with over 1 billion yuan (US$128 million) worth of fares, up 6 per cent.

The gain is also an all-time high since the State authority began to launch week long holidays, known as Golden Week, in the International Day of Labour in May and the National Day in October every year since 2000.

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Figures from 136 major retailers in 31 key tourist cities across the country revealed that 2.96 billion yuan (US$357 million) in sales volume was generated during the Golden Week, up 18.9 per cent year on year.

As well, 140 restaurant enterprises reported 220 million yuan (US$26.5 million) worth of income, up 17.1 per cent, according to the administration.