Chinese eager to hit the road for holidays

Almost 80 percent of Chinese netizens hope to spend the upcoming Spring Festival break traveling, according to a report based on a nationwide survey.

The survey quizzed more than 1,300 Internet users across 30 Chinese cities.

About 40 percent of the people planning to travel in mid-February prefer overseas destinations, surpassing the 37 percent who choose domestic routes due to worries about congestion at home, says a major Chinese travel agency website, Ctrip.com, which released the report last week.

Thailand, Bali and the Maldives are the top three planned overseas destinations, while tropical Chinese resort city Sanya, ethnically diverse Yunnan province and southeastern coastal city Xiamen top the domestic list.

Price is the top consideration for Chinese tourists planning their itineraries, the report says. About 30 percent of travelers expect to spend 3,000 to 5,000 yuan ($483-$805) on the trip, and only 12 percent said their budget is more than 8,000 yuan. The habits of Chinese travelers have also changed, the poll says, since only 17 percent now choose to travel with tourist groups.

It says the coming holiday will be the "smartest" season for travel ever as it shows 82 percent of people use websites to book their itineraries, and 40 percent use smartphone apps.

"The barriers traveling overseas are lowered, and domestic traveling has been largely facilitated by high-speed trains and self-driving. Online technology serving tourists and fiercer competition in the market altogether contribute to increase people's willingness to travel during holidays," the report says.