East China's Zhejiang Province, home to such renowned scenic spots as the West Lake, earned more than 100 billion yuan (12 billion US dollars) in tourism revenue in 2004, up 30 percent from 2003, the provincial tourism administration announced Saturday.

The tourism income contributed nine percent of the province's gross domestic product, according to the administration.

The province reported 2.58 million overseas visitors in 2003, who spent 1.2 billion US dollars of foreign exchange, up 42 percent. Domestic visitors reached 100 million and spent 82.3 billion yuan (9.9 billion US dollars), the administration said.

The province's tourism witnessed a long cold spell in 2003 due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The volume of both domestic and overseas tourism dropped dramatically in the first six months of 2003 and directly affected the tourism turnover of the year.

In 2004, Zhejiang launched a series of tourist activities during China's "golden week" holidays and held tourism promotions across the country and in some foreign countries to attract more visitors, which greatly helped local tourism rebound, according to the administration.

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2005)