Outbound travel popular over New Year

Rising incomes are giving Chinese the means to travel to ever more exotic destinations. The New Year break provides a chance to check out regions or countries that are not too far away. The most popular package deals are for Southeast Asia.

Outbound travel deals have attracted many tourists. These include tours to Australia, New Zealand and Middle East and African countries. Since some travel agencies are hiring charter flights, prices have fallen from the same period last year.

Zhang Wei, manager of Outbound Tour Dept., CITS,said, "I think tourists are getting much more adventurous. We thought only people interested in history would want to travel to places like Egypt, Turkey, Africa and the Middle East and Africa. But sales to these destinations are very strong this year."

To match individual needs, many travel agencies have launched new products.

Zhang Wei said, "Over the three-day holiday, most people are choosing to travel to destinations such as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, and Japan or countries in Southeast Asia."

Prices for package deals to Southeast Asian countries have surged 10 percent over this holiday period. The National Tourism Administration says it expects demand for outbound travel will continue until the Spring Festival. While prices for most outbound tour products are also expected to stay much the same as they were last year.