BEIJING
Chinese star-rated hotels brought in total revenue of 49.28 billion yuan (7 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter of 2019, according to a report released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Among the earnings, room sales totaled 23.55 billion yuan while catering income constituted 18.86 billion yuan, accounting for around 48 percent and 38 percent of the total revenue, respectively. According to the report, the number of star-rated hotels in China that are verified by provincial culture and tourism authorities hit 8,077, including 799 five-star hotels, as of Sept. 30, 2019. In the third quarter of the year, the average room rate of all star-rated hotels was 352.68 yuan per night, up 3.2 percent year on year, it said. Eight provincial-level areas reported a higher average room rate than the national average, said the report, adding that Shanghai topped the list with an average of 712 yuan a night per room, followed by Beijing, Hainan, Guangdong and Fujian.—Xinhua
