South Korea the top choice for Chinese to spend Spring Festival abroad

A woman sells made-to-order traditional Korean clothing "hanbok" in Dongdaemun Market in Seoul, South Korea. [Photo/IC]

According to the China National Tourism Administration, 5.19 million Chinese are expected to travel abroad for the upcoming Spring Festival, with year-on-year growth of about 10 percent.

Each year, China's Spring Festival witnesses the country's outbound tourism peak, with about an 80 percent increase in travelers than usual. This year, the number of tourists continues to grow, due to an easier visa application process for Chinese passport holders, and the depreciation of foreign currency against the yuan.

Nearby Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries remain the major destinations for Chinese tourists, and the number of those who travel to Europe, North America and Australia is also significant.

The passion for Chinese to visit the US and Japan this year is also fuelled by the fact that the US started issuing 10-year visas that allow multiple entries, and Japan offers easier three-year, multiple-entry visas to Chinese tourists.

Here is the overall geographical distribution of Chinese traveling abroad this year - Asia (90%), Oceania (5%), Europe (3%), America (1%) and Africa (1%).

According to the predicted tourist flow, the 10 most popular countries among Chinese tourists are: South Korea (15.6%), Thailand (13.9%), Japan (8.7%), Australia (4.4%), Singapore (3.6%), Malaysia (2.9%), Indonesia (2.3%), the Philippines (2%), Italy (1.5%) and New Zealand (1.4%).

The most popular domestic provinces and cities are: Zhejiang province (17.9%), Jiangsu province (11.2%), Shanghai (8.9%), Guangdong province (7.2%), Beijing (6.8%), Shaanxi province (5%), Shandong province (4.9%), Liaoning province (4.4%), Heilongjiang province (2.9%) and Sichuan province (2.3%).