Retail sales boom in Tianjin during Spring Festival holiday

TIANJIN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's northern port city of Tianjin saw its retail sales soar during the just-concluded Spring Festival holiday, said the municipal bureau of commerce on Sunday.

Data from the bureau showed that 473 trading enterprises in Tianjin raked in nearly 2.1 billion yuan (about 295.6 million U.S. dollars) and received 17 million visits during the eight-day holiday, up by 11.2 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively, from the same holiday period last year.

The catering industry also experienced robust growth. A total of 218 catering companies monitored by the bureau drew revenues of 55 million yuan, with a passenger flow of about 437,000 visits during the holiday, up by 21.1 percent and 20.8 percent respectively year on year.

The sales volume of 59 commercial complexes and outlets in Tianjin reached 1.2 billion yuan, with traffic reaching 13.8 million during the holiday, up by 15.5 percent and 29.5 percent respectively year on year.

Moreover, the passenger flow of 106 chain supermarket stores monitored by the bureau reached 1.74 million, an increase of 12 percent compared with the same holiday period last year.