The number of trips to be made by the Chinese people during the Chinese New Year holiday or the spring festival is expected to reach a historic high as the tourism economy continues to surge, according latest statistics released by the China Association of Travel Agencies, ctrip.com and tuniu.com.
Contrary to general mode of group tours in other holidays, family vacation spearheaded by the 30-45 age group will constitute the bulk of the holiday tourists.
This year's Spring Festival happens to come one day after the Valentine's Day. The coincidence of China's traditional Spring Festival and the western Valentine's Day is expected to spark more interests in holiday tours among the lovebirds as most people have never experienced this kind of calendar phenomenon.
According to statistics provided by ctrip.com, more and more holiday-goers will go after quality and comfort when making family vacation tours. 80% of them will choose to stay at upscale hotels.
Meanwhile, a total of 6.5 million Chinese will travel overseas during the upcoming weeklong Spring Festival holiday, said a report released by China Tourism Academy and Ctrip.
People from more than 200 Chinese cities have booked outbound tours to over 700 cities in 68 countries and regions on Ctrip, a popular online travel agency based in Shanghai, said the report released on Feb 2.
The tourists are expected to spend 9,500 yuan or $1,510 each on their trips.
The most popular destinations are Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. The Nordic countries and the United Arab Emirates are also among the favorites. Some of the travelers will be going as far as Antarctica.
The Year of Dog will begin on Feb 16, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.
During the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in 2017, 6.15 million Chinese traveled overseas, up 7 percent year-on-year.
China's Spring Festival travel rush, known as the Chunyun, began Thursday.
Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Feb. 16 this year. Hundreds of millions of Chinese will return to their hometown for family gatherings or travel around the country, putting huge pressure on the transport system.
About 2.98 billion trips are expected to be made during the 2018 Spring Festival travel rush between Feb. 1 and March 12, basically the same figure as last year, according to China's top economic planner.
(Source:Jiangsu International Channel)
