The World Carnival tour to Beijing this year has witnessed a year-on-year profit increase since its opening ten days ago, the Beijing News reported on Monday.

During the first ten days, the World Carnival in Beijing, featuring rides, games, stage performances and specialty snacks from around the world, earned a total of 23.41 million yuan (US$2.9 million), 1.78 million yuan more than its first-ten-day business income last year, the Beijing News quoted figures from the local tax department as saying.

The carnival, organized through a joint venture between U.K. Funfairs Ltd. and Hong Kong-based World Carnival Ltd., came to Beijing for the first time last summer but did not earn a satisfying income largely due to frequent rainstorms.

But the weather this year has been much better and the number of visitors to the carnival has almost doubled from last year, Zhang Shuhua, president of the China office of the carnival, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

According to figures released by the local tax department in the Shijingshan District, where the carnival is staged, the carnival in the first ten days this year has paid 1.54 million yuan (US$189,800) in taxes, a year-on-year increase of 8.5 percent.

The local tax department expected the World Carnival this year to receive 2 million visitors, bringing an income of 250 million yuan (US$30.8 million) during its 73-day stay in Beijing.

Last year, the carnival ran for 52 days and generated income of less than 140 million yuan (US$17 million).

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2005)