In Beijing retail spending in the first six days of the holiday hit around US$60.2 million, a rise of 6% on the 2003 holiday. Restaurants in the capital did even better with diners' spending up 7.2% year-on-year, state media reported.
Shanghai, meanwhile, said it had seen domestic and overseas tourist arrivals up by 5% during the holiday, with retail sales jumping 19.5% from a year ago.
For those traveling, rail remained the most popular mode of transport although state media said growing prosperity meant more people – an estimated 2.5 million passengers – were opting to travel by plane, both to domestic and overseas destinations.
In all some 2,400 extra flights were added to the schedule to cope with increased demand over the seven-day break.
The government has been encouraging Chinese to travel and spend during the three annual so-called "Golden Week" holidays as a way of boosting the economy rather than having people keep their savings idle in the bank.