The retail sales of accommodation and catering industry in China saw an 18 percent growth in July to score 92.3 billion yuan (12.1 billion U.S. dollars) of business volume over the same month of 2006, according to the latest figures revealed by the Ministry of Commerce.

From January to July this year, the accommodation and catering industry maintained robust growth momentum, with the retail sales volume surpassing 673 billion yuan, up 18 percent on a yearly basis, which accounted for 13.7 percent of the nation's total consumption volume.

The nation's consumer price index (CPI) in July set a 33-month high of 5.6 percent and foodstuffs were priced 15.4 percent higher than the same period last year, helping to push the country's accommodation and catering consumption to a new high.

In recent years, investment constituted a much bigger share of the nation's GDP growth, while the consumption was relatively weak. This has become a key concern for the government. Against this backdrop, the government has taken measures to boost domestic consumption.

During the first half of this year, the nation's investment growth rate has slowed down by 3.8 percent and the consumption growth rate increased by 2.1 percent compared with last year, said Xie Fuzhan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

The strong consumption indicated the investment and consumption were favorably coordinated this year due to the efforts of the government's policy in energizing domestic consumption, said Qi Jingmei, an analyst with the State Information Center.

Qi held that traditionally the fourth quarter is a peak season of consumption, so the country's consumption volume may continue its rapid growth momentum till the end of the year.