Chinese international tourists hit record numbers

Prices may be up around the region but China's growing band of happy holidaymakers have proven unperturbed over the Spring Festival period, heading overseas in record numbers. And it's a trend that is set to continue, according to the country's official tourism bodies, as Chinese travelers become more adventurous on their breaks and, of course, have more money to spend.

China's National Holiday Tourism Office this week claimed there had been a rise of 60 percent in outbound tourists from Beijing alone, even though travel agents had upped prices to such popular destinations as Hong Kong by 15 percent on average and to the Thai island of Phuket by as much as 30 percent.

Regardless of any price hikes, however, those two destinations finished one-two in a poll jointly released by the China Tourism Academy and the Beijing Ctrip International Travel Service. "For Hong Kong and Taiwan tours during the holiday, although we raised the rates by 50 percent on average, they were booked up long before Spring Festival," a refreshingly honest He Jing, from Ctrip, told the China Daily newspaper.

Source: The Independent