Outbound tourists' transactions jump 50% in Spring Festival

Transactions made by China's outbound tourists during the Spring Festival jumped some 50 percent year-on-year in February, according to data released on Thursday by UnionPay International, the international business branch of bandcard association China UnionPay.

Several destinations including South Korea and the United States were particularly popular among Chinese outbound travelers which have seen increasing promotions from merchants and rocketing transaction volumes. Japan, Russia, Italy and Turkey were also popular during the Lunar New Year seven-day break which between Feb 18 and 24, the UnionPay report said.

Globally, a total of 270 million inter-bank bankcard transactions via the UnionPay system were processed with the transaction volume hitting 238.1 billion yuan ($38.07 billion) during the Spring Festival break, 16 percent higher than that of 2014.

Among all consumption categories, traveling saw the highest growth rate during the break with the volume of travel agencies packages and tickets for scenic spots increasing by 88 percent year-on-year, according to UnionPay.

Transactions in flight tickets, railway tickets and highway passenger consumption also jumped 58 percent year-on-year, the UnionPay data said.

Market insiders said Chinese travelers are now embarking on longer trips and have wider range of choices. According to the World Tourism Cities Federation 2014 report, top destinations for Chinese outbound travelers include South Korea, Japan, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the United States.