China's hotel and catering sector reported a 15.3 percent year on year increase to 492.86 billion yuan in the first half of 2006, People’s Daily reported, citing the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce. Statistics also showed that sales from the lodging and catering sector accounted for 13.5 percent of the country's total retail sales of consumer goods during the six-month period, said the paper. The department predicted that the sector's retails sales will reach nearly 598 billion yuan in the second half of this year. The ministry has approved 536 new foreign-invested hotels and catering enterprises in the first half, with the contractual use of foreign funds totaled 1.43 billion dollars, up 15.6 percent, while the actual use of foreign funds amounted to 380 million dollars, up 48.6 percent.