Spending in Shanghai over this year's Labor Day holiday remained robust, despite a drop in tourist numbers, as more residents chose to stay in the city for the three-day break that ended yesterday.

Sales in Shanghai's more than 4,000 large and medium-sized retailers reached 3.5 billion yuan (US$538 million) during the holiday, up 20.3 percent from a year earlier, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce said yesterday.

The pace of growth slowed from last year's 23.7 percent increase, when the holiday coincided with the opening of the World Expo, attracting tens of thousands of tourists.

But it was higher than the 11.5 percent growth rate in this year's Spring Festival holiday.

The expenditure per day of 1.17 billion yuan turned out to be the highest since 1999 when such calculations began, the commission said.

"More powerful promotions, more spending by local people and no rain helped push up sales," said Chen Yuxian, an official at the commission. "Because the holiday was shorter than last year's five-day break, more local people chose to stay in the city, and thus spent more here."

Online shopping sales jumped 20.9 percent to 32.9 million yuan.

However, the hotel industry reported a decline with takings down 30.1 percent on a year earlier as fewer tourists stayed in the city compared to the opening of World Expo.

The reopened China Pavilion attracted 134,800 visitors over the holiday.