Lhasa most popular destination for young travelers

Photo taken on Jan 12, 2014 shows the scenery of Lalu Wetland Reserve in Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region. According to a survey released on Wednesday by the regional forestry department, Tibet has seen an increase of wetland by 524,200 hectares in the past decade thanks to dedicated conservation efforts, taking the region's total to 6.52 million hectares.[Photo/Xinhua]

Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region, is the most popular tourist destination for Chinese youth during summer vacation, Beijing Times reported.

Qunar.com, a leading travel search engine, surveyed young travelers born after 1990. During the summer vacation, that age group accounts for the majority of the country’s tourists. The survey found Lhasa ranked first for those young travelers, followed by Lijiang in Yunnan province.

Young travelers born after 1990 preferred to plan their own trips, and have enough time to visit remote cities, such as Lhasa, the survey results showed.

Other popular destinations include Gulangyu in Xiamen, Fujian province; Chengdu in Sichuan province; and Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Beijing ranked eighth. The survey also showed the major motive for young people to travel is for spiritual reasons. In addition, they like to taste different foods around the country.

However, young travelers have limited budgets. About 40 percent of respondents said they can only afford 1,000 to 2,000 yuan ($161-$322) on each trip. About 38 percent could afford 2,000 to 5,000 yuan.