BEIJING, Sept. 18 -- During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from Sept. 15 to 17, Beijing received more than 8.17 million tourists, the municipal culture and tourism bureau said Wednesday.

Among the total, some 7.7 million visitors flocked to the city's 212 key tourist attractions, up 13.6 percent year on year, according to the bureau.

Rural tourism in Beijing's suburbs emerged as a major highlight of this year's holiday travel.

The cumulative number of visitors to the city's rural areas reached over 1.45 million, bringing in operating income amounting to more than 170.5 million yuan (about 24 million U.S. dollars). The suburban districts of Yanqing, Miyun and Huairou, were the top three destinations in the rural tourism sector.