The Spring Festival is the biggest holiday in China. It used to be a time when people would travel throughout the country, but now more Chinese would like to spend the holiday in other countries. And, the market for outbound travel is becoming bigger every year. CCTV reporter Ren Ting takes a look at a secret battle to win Chinese tourists during this Spring Festival holiday.
For many Chinese travellers, the Spring Festival is more like a shopping season rather than a holiday season.
Therefore, winning Chinese tourists becomes an important business strategy.
South Korea is planning to enlarge existing hotels and develop more travel packages, especially marketed towards Chinese tourists.
Another major neighbor, Japan will offer visas to individual Chinese travellers, allowing them travel to the country multiple times as long as their visas are valid.
Thai officials estimate there will be about 100 chartered flights from China to Thailand during this Spring Festival. And for the whole year, about 1.3 million trips will be made from China, a 30 percent increase over 2010. Tourism authorities hope to set up offices in China to make those trips easier.
Countries across the Pacific Ocean are also expecting Chinese tourists. About one hundred Chinese will go to spend Spring Festival Eve in Vancouver, Canada. And the US state of California wants to attract as many Chinese shoppers as possible to its huge malls.
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