China has already become the largest source of tourists in Asia. The Chinese are traveling to about 140 countries and regions for tourism.
Many families now use the holidays to go abroad for new holiday experiences.
The trend reflects a change in people's attitudes toward the homecoming tradition. They now focus more on the holiday experience, says Li Jianxin, an assistant professor of tourism management at Beijing International Studies University.
The increasing enthusiasm for outbound trips during the Spring Festival is part of the surging market of China's outbound tourism.
About 57.39 million citizens went on outbound tours in 2010, up 20.4 percent year-on-year, bringing a total of $48 billion to their destinations, according to a report from the China Tourism Academy (CTA).
Meanwhile, the sales of outbound tours for the Spring Festival this year is drawing to an end.
With the booming economy and improved living standards, traveling, once considered a luxury, has gradually come to be seen as a necessity for the ordinary Chinese people.
China has already become the largest source of tourists in Asia. The Chinese are traveling to about 140 countries and regions for tourism, says the CTA report.
Rising personal incomes and consumer confidence were contributing to the surge, Professor Li Jianxin said.
According to a McKinsey report on Chinese consumers released in November, 58 percent of respondents said they expected their incomes to rise next year, compared with 39 percent in 2010.
The increasing number of outbound tourists from China has led to countries like Japan and the Republic of Korea simplifying the visa application process for the Chinese.
The European Travel Commission on Dec 1 launched a Chinese language version of its tourism website to attract more tourists from China to the crisis-hit continent.
The boom in the country's outbound tourism has inspired more destinations to offer better services to Chinese tourists. This way both China and those countries stood to gain, said Li Jianxin.
京公网安备 11010502048770号
