A growing number of Chinese tourists have been traveling overseas this year. The trend has been driven by rising incomes and more welcome government policies. Still, there has been a shift in the most popular destinations. Chinese tourists in general turned away from the once popular destination of Hong Kong. Japan became the new hot spot this year, especially after the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea in May. Overall, Chinese overseas travelers will have more places to go. Furthermore, they will also benefit from the yuan's inclusion in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights basket.
Winter's low temperatures haven't cooled Chinese people's enthusiasm for traveling abroad.
Over the last month, one travel agency in Beijing had booked up 70 percent of its short tours to countries around China during Christmas and New Year's Day, said one agency employee, who required anonymity.
Japan and South Korea are the top choices of many clients, she told the Global Times on Monday, with more people traveling independently, meaning without joining a tour group.
There has been a boom in overseas travel in China in 2015. Over the last three years, China has topped the rankings of countries that send the most tourists overseas, according to China Tourism Academy (CTA), a research institute under China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).
China's overseas tourists have also had the most purchasing power.
The CTA forecast in August that the number of tourists from China will grow 16 percent on an annual basis to 120 million in 2015, and they will spend nearly 1.1 trillion yuan ($170.8 billion).
The growth in overseas tourists is mostly the result of rising incomes, favorable government policies and the appreciation of the yuan against many of the world's currencies, experts said.
"China's outbound tourism market is full of potential," said Lin Wenbing, an analyst at Beijing-based market research firm Analysys International.
Changing destinations
Over the last few years, Chinese tourists have been favoring destinations in Asia, but more recently there have been a shift in their most preferred places to go.
The five most popular destinations for mainland tourists in the second quarter were Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, according to CNTA. France came in near the bottom of the top 10, followed by the US and Malaysia.
Hong Kong, once the most popular destination for mainland tourists, has lost its No.1 place. The number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong has dropped largely due to local residents' protests against mainland shoppers.
A 20-something Beijing resident, who only gave her surname Zhang, said Hong Kong wasn't the paradise of low prices that she had hoped for.
"Actually, some products sold in Hong Kong were not as cheap as I have expected," she told the Global Times on Monday.
Zhang said she would not consider traveling to Hong Kong a second time; instead, she is more interested in Japan, with its scenic view and inexpensive, unique products.
From January to May, South Korea was the No.1 destination for Chinese tourists. However, tourists abandoned the country after the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, on May 20, and Japan took over the top spot.
