Number of Chinese travellers going abroad during Lunar New Year holiday rises 10pc
Five million journeys for Lunar New Year is 10pc rise; Hong Kong's fall is first for 20 years
Tourists from the mainland made more than five million trips abroad during the Lunar New Year holiday, a 10 per cent rise on the same period last year.
By contrast, the number of mainlanders who came to Hong Kong in the first five days of the holiday fell for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The most popular destinations for mainland tourists were neighbouring Asian countries including Thailand, Japan and South Korea, the China National Tourism Administration said at the end of the holiday period on Tuesday night.
It said the increase was partly prompted by favourable exchange rates and eased visa policies for Chinese visitors.
The number of passengers flying in and out of Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport during the main holiday period, February 17 to 23, rose by 40 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Hekou port in Yunnan province, one of the main routes to Vietnam, recorded a massive surge in outbound visitors, the tourist body said.
Chinese tourists turned a traditionally slack season for shopping malls in Japan into a busy one, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.