According to the latest statistics released by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of 2009, China's accommodation and catering industry showed a year-on-year growth of 18.1% with total retail sales being CNY851.4 billion, despite the impact of the global financial crisis.
Developed coastal areas have been more influenced by the crisis. For example, the year-on-year growth of Guangdong's accommodation and catering industry was 13.3%; the year-on-year growth of Beijing's catering industry was 13.6%; the year-on-year growth of Tianjin's accommodation industry was 9.2%; while year-on-year growth of Zhejiang's accommodation and catering industry was only 4.5%.
In central and western China the accommodation and catering industry still maintains a relatively high growth. The growth of Inner Mongolia was 21.5%, Jilin was 24.2%, and Sichuan was 22.5%.
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