Seven million overseas trips are expected to be made by Chinese tourists during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, with Thailand and Japan the favored destinations, Chinese travel agencies predicted on Thursday.
Chinese tourists from more than 100 major cities have booked travel for the week-long holiday starting Sunday to destinations in 96 countries and regions, including some 900 overseas cities. The most distant travel destination is the South Pole, according to a report online travel agency Ctrip sent to the Global Times on Friday.
Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam are the top five destinations for Chinese tourists, according to the report. The US ranks seventh after Malaysia.
Another online travel agency Lvmama reported that Japan tops the favorite destination chart, while Thailand takes second place. Hokkaido, Mount Fuji, Tokyo and Osaka are Chinese tourists' most preferred cities in Japan.
Several Chinese tourists who plan to travel to Thailand for the holiday told the Global Times that Thailand tropical islands are always great for a family vacation.
In 2018, the number of Chinese trips to Thailand booked through Ctrip reached 1 million, an industry record. Ctrip attributes the popularity of Southeast Asian countries to visa-free or visa-on-arrival policies for Chinese tourists. Chinese tourists were attracted to Japan for its food and shopping.
Yao Bo, a Beijing-based design company chief, told the Global Times on Friday that "there are plenty of fun things to do in Japan, such as shopping for independent fashion design outfits" but what interests him most is Japanese food.
Yao even made a detailed bucket list of the food he wants to try in Japan, including local ramen and Sushi by Hyoutan. The flight from Beijing to Tokyo takes only about three hours which is another reason he chose Japan for his holiday.
Daily expenses for such overseas travel by Chinese travelers range from 300 yuan ($44.5) to several thousand yuan to cover such services as a local tourist guide and ground transportation, according to Ctrip.
Chinese tourists as a group have been the world's biggest spenders on outbound travel for six consecutive years, the Xinhua News Agency reported on January 9.
In 2018, Chinese tourists made 140 million abroad trips, marking a year-on-year increase of 13.5 percent.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, said during a routine press conference on Thursday that "our advice to Chinese citizens who plan to travel abroad is to raise awareness to guard against risks, carefully study the border entry and exit rules of their destinations, select travel programs with caution, properly arrange their travel itinerary, and never miss any details safety-wise."
"I also want to remind our compatriots to learn and abide by local laws and regulations, respect local customs and practices, travel green and travel with good etiquette, to project and maintain a good image of Chinese tourists," Geng said.
