BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism market was in stable operation on the fifth of the National Day holiday with 93 million Chinese tourists traveling around the country, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) said on Thursday.

The figure represents an increase of 12.1 percent year on year, the CNTA said.

Domestic tourists spent 76.3 billion yuan (11.39 billion U.S. dollars) on the day, up 14.7 percent year on year.

The National Day holiday, which runs from Oct.1 to 8, sees a surge in passenger flows as leisure travel has become a major holiday entertainment due to improving living standard.

Due to high tourist traffic, a number of popular tourist sites including the Forbidden City, the Huangshan Mountain and the Baiyangdian lake have to impose visit ceilings.

Visits to special townships, new socialist countryside and Communist revolutionary heritage sites become popular during holiday.

One of China's two "Golden Weeks", this year's National Day holiday has been extended by one day as the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Oct.4.