Chinese visit more overseas destinations during Spring Festival holiday

Chinese traveled to more overseas destinations during the recently-concluded Spring Festival holiday, online travel agency (OTA) Ctrip revealed.

Ctrip users visited 97 overseas countries and regions during the week-long holiday, up from 82 registered the previous year, according to a report released by the country's largest OTA.

Official data showed that outbound trips increased by nearly 12.5 percent to over 6.31 million during the past week.

Thailand remained the most popular overseas destination on Ctrip during this period, followed by Japan. The two countries saw over 30 percent of the visitors traveling overseas tracked by Ctrip.

North European countries are also getting popular with doubling Ctrip orders.

Travelers from Beijing showed the strongest spending power, paying about 9,000 yuan (1,328.7 U.S. dollars) on average for their overseas trips.

Ctrip CEO Jane Sun expects a continuous expansion of China's outbound tourism market thanks to the growing middle-income community, with places neighboring the Chinese mainland as the most vibrant destinations.

The report also found that people in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou love traveling more than their peers in other places, while those in county-level cities posted unprecedented enthusiasm for travel during the holiday.