Young travelers picking places on interests

[Photo/China Daily]

Young Chinese are picking travel destinations based on their interests, a new industry survey finds. Xu Lin reports.

It was a breathtaking moment. In her heavy scuba diving equipment, Li Jie was excited to see a school of fish swim toward her. Like a thick wall, they soon surrounded her.

This was in Sipadan, a popular diving destination in Malaysia, where such phenomenon in the Celebes Sea is a big attraction for divers.

"I felt free at that moment," recalls the 27-year-old amateur diver, who works at a tech company in Beijing.

"The deeper I went, the more curious I became and wanted to see the magic of the underwater world－from colorful fish and sharks to turtles."

Like her, many young Chinese are following their passions.

The domestic online tourism company mafengwo.cn recently unveiled a report about the traveling patterns of Chinese born in the 1990s, to delve into their consumption habits.

The survey, based on a questionnaire sent to 1,440 people aged from 18 to 27, shows that young travelers choose their destinations based on their interests. They also like to spend more time in one place to enjoy the local life.

Li fell in love with diving last May, and has since visited Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand for diving holidays due to their low prices and tourism infrastructure.