China's tourism industry witnesses surge in run

China's tourism market is set to flourish during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, with bookings multiplied over the same period last year.

A report released earlier this week by Chinese online travel giant Ctrip shows that bookings for domestic, outbound, and inbound travels all have been experiencing significant year-on-year growth.

Travelling to opposite sides of the country has become a popular trend in China this winter, with people from the country's southern regions heading north in search of ice and snow, while northerners flee the chilly weather for warmer climes in the south. This trend looks set to continue during the Spring Festival holiday.

Travel bookings to Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang province have increased more than 14-fold compared with the same period last year, mainly by tourists from the south of the country. Sanya in south China's Hainan province and Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan province are the destinations of choice for many northern tourists.

As a time known for family reunions, the Spring Festival holiday will see more families hitting the road. Bookings on Ctrip show that 47 percent of all tourists are choosing to travel with their families. Among them, most have chosen to rent cars, book tailor-made trips, or take chartered bus tours with local guides.

The increase of outbound and inbound travels is another highlight of this Spring Festival. Short to medium tours to Southeast and East Asia are the hottest among outbound travelers, with cruise vacations being a dark horse.

Inbound travel bookings have increased more than tenfold compared to last year, thanks to the recent introduction of favorable new visa policies. Tourists from Japan, the United States, South Korea and many other countries have chosen to visit Shanghai, Beijing and other renowned tourism attractions in China. Harbin, one of the hottest destinations in the country this winter, which has also attracted the attention of foreign media, is also a top choice for overseas travelers.

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