More trips to cater to Chinese kids

A family sets up a tent inside a marine aquarium in Yantai, Shandong province, for an overnight experience. [Photo/VCG]

Utour's short-distance outbound family packages to Singapore and Malaysia were fully booked during Children's Day on June 1.

A 15-day family package touring Canadian universities and a 16-day route covering the United States' East and West coasts have received rave reviews from parents, Li says.

Children are providing greater incentives to the tourism market, suggests a report by China's biggest online travel agency, Ctrip.

The number of Chinese children who took international flights during the first three months of this year surged 82 percent over last year, the report says. Half are younger than 6.

Also, the recent change in family-planning policies that allow Chinese to have two children has produced packages catering to families of four.

Flight bookings for two kids rose by about 30 percent during the period, during which those surveyed visited 630 cities across 132 countries and regions, the report says.

A 3-year-old featured in the report flew 16 times last year to such destinations as Seoul, Japan's Sapporo and Thailand's Bangkok, Koh Samui and Phuket Island.

He'd traveled more extensively than most adults from January to March.

Parents are willing to pay more for better arrangements when traveling with children, the report explains.