With an average rise of 10 percent in personal income over the recent years, Chinese consumers have been spending spare money on relaxation.

According to a recent survey conducted by ACNielsen of 3,000 Internet users across the country, 53 percent of Chinese consumers use their spare cash on holidays and vacations, ranking tops among the 14 Asian countries that have been polled.

ACNielsen China reportedly says that up to three-fourths of Chinese online consumers made domestic trips for leisure, which is defined as at least one night away from home, between June 2006 and May 2007. Among them, 53 percent traveled 2-3 times, and 16 percent made at least four holidays.

The survey finds that more than 40 percent of the Chinese tourists desire to get back to nature, with nearly one in three leisure travelers claiming to have visited a forestry park, making it the most sought-after domestic leisure destination. Also, 19 percent of the travelers visited Shanghai in the previous year, and making it popular travel destination, along with Zhejiang.

In addition, more companies have turned to travel as an employee incentive. ACNielsen's reportedly shows that incentive travel accounted for 15 percent of all business travel during June 2006 to May 2007. One-fifth of business travel was for training purposes, 18 percent for meetings, and 11 percent for corporate events, all of which are considered direct or indirect perks to motivate and retain key staff.