BEIJING, Feb 18 Reuters Tourism revenues in China during the Lunar New Year holidays that ended on Saturday surged by 47.3 yearonyear and surpassed 2019 levels, thanks to a domestic travel boom amid a longerthanusual break, official data showed on Sunday.

The data may offer temporary relief to policymakers as the world39;s secondlargest economy has been facing deflationary risks amid weak consumer demand, but the sustainability of the tourism boost is uncertain and the tourism revenue per trip remained below the prepandemic level.

During the holiday, known as the world39;s largest annual migration, tourist attractions across the country witnessed massive crowds.

Domestic tourism spending jumped by 47.3 to 632.7 billion yuan 87.96 billion from the same holiday period in 2023, according to the data by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The number of domestic trips made during this year39;s holiday grew by 34.3 from a year ago, totalling 474 million.

Compared to the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday before the COVID pandemic struck the country, domestic tourism spending rose 7.7 and domestic trips increased 19, according to the ministry39;s data.

But the holiday in 2024 lasted for eight days, one day more than the Lunar New year break in 2019.

The ministry did not give a breakdown of the tourism spending per trip, but according to Reuters calculations based on the ministry data, average spending per trip during the holiday this year reached 1,335 yuan, down 9.5 from 1,475…