This photo shows a part of the Xiao Song City scenic area packed with tourists, in Kaifeng, central China's Henan province, on Oct 2, 2020. (LI JIANAN / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China saw 425 million domestic tourist visits in the first four days of an eight-day national holiday, with 312 billion yuan (about US$45.8 billion) in tourism revenue generated, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Sunday.

A total of 312 billion yuan (about US$45.8 billion) in tourism revenue was generated in the first four days of an eight-day national holiday, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said

China celebrated its National Day on Oct 1, and the week-long holiday this year has been extended to Oct 8 as it overlapped with the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is the first national holiday since the country resumed trans-provincial group tours in July.

ALSO READ: China sees record railway trips amid holiday travel rush

Across China, more than 1,000 tourist attractions are offering free or discounted tickets during the holiday. China's tourism sector is seeing a strong rebound, buoyed by preferential tourism policies and with COVID-19 effectively under control.

According to an earlier report issued by the Meituan Research Institute, a social science research agency under major e-commerce platform Meituan, consumption at tourist attractions nationwide during the holiday is expected to rebound to around 90 percent of that in the same period last year.

READ MORE: Chinese celebrate first Golden Week holiday since COVID-19

Tourist spending is likely to hit a new high since the containment of COVID-19 in the country, according to the report.