BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism industry brought in 5.97 trillion yuan (882 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 10.5 percent year on year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Wednesday.

According to a preliminary estimation, the domestic tourism industry made an overall contribution of 9.94 trillion yuan to the country's GDP in 2018, accounting for 11 percent of the total GDP, said the ministry.

The tourism sector created 79.9 million direct and indirect jobs in 2018, accounting for nearly 10.3 percent of the total employed population, the ministry noted.