SHANGHAI — A total of 4.1 billion domestic tourist trips will be made in China in 2021, up 42 percent from 2020, according to a report released by the China Tourism Academy on Feb 22.

China will gain 3.3 trillion yuan (about $511 billion) in revenue from domestic tourism in 2021, an increase of 48 percent year-on-year, read the report.

Amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China saw approximately 2.88 billion domestic tourist trips in 2020, a 52.1 percent year-on-year slump, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

However, people's passion for travel returned quarter by quarter. During the Chinese Spring Festival holiday which began on Feb 11 and continued until Feb 17, the tourism industry recorded positive figures. The number of tourists traveling to and from major tourist destinations like Guangdong, Henan, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Chongqing and Beijing exceeded or almost reached the levels seen during the 2019 Spring Festival.

In 2020, tourists expressed higher levels of satisfaction with their trips as more scientific, technological and cultural innovations were implemented to improve the service quality of tourist attractions, read the report.