China’s week-long vacation boosts overseas trips
Beijing: As the seven-day national holiday began on Tuesday, many Chinese travellers are choosing to spend the week overseas. In 2012, Chinese people made over 80 million overseas trips.
Ahead of the national day holiday, many countries have been preparing for Chinese tourists. According to South Korea’s SBS, the country is expecting 150,000 Chinese tourists during the week-long holiday, that’s a rise of more than 60 percent compared with last year.
The number of Chinese tourists has surpassed the number of Japanese tourists travelling to South Korea, with over 5 million expected this year. As Chinese customers are boosting the local retail industry in Britain, the UK government has been working for easier visa applications procedures for Chinese tourists.
Meanwhile, tourist agencies in Thailand say their tours have been fully booked by Chinese tourist groups for the upcoming holiday week.
October 1st is China’s National Day, a time when millions across the country hit the roads, rails and skies to enjoy a week-long holiday.
The country’s Ministry of Public Security estimates that 430 million trips will be made during the holiday, up 18 percent from the same period last year. A total of 85 million road trips are expected to be made everyday, a six percent year on year rise.
The outbound travel peak has already started and will go up, while most travellers are expected to make return trips by Sunday or next Monday. Authorities are warning of huge traffic jams in the country’s highly populated areas, including around Beijing and Tianjin, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.
According to the Ministry of Transport, more than 610 million passengers are expected to travel on roads and waterways this National Day holiday, up 6 percent year on year.
Toll highways will be free for drivers of cars with no more than seven seats. This is the fifth time the toll-free policy will be in effect since it was first introduced last National Day holiday.-Source: CCTV.com
