JAPAN and South Korea were the most popular destinations with local tourists during the Spring Festival holiday, which ended two weeks ago, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday, citing professionals in the industry.

    The two destinations overshadowed places like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, which used to be preferred by local residents during public holidays, according to Zhou Quanlin, vice secretary general of the city’s tourism association.

    The number of local residents leaving the country to travel has been increasing 10 percent annually in recent years, according to Zhou. The increase surprised the tourism sector, which predicted a decline in 2014.

    Liu Ke, marketing director of the Shenzhen branch of China International Travel Service (CITS), attributed local residents’ enthusiasm to travel abroad to several factors, including higher income, travel experiences that are only offered outside the country, an increase in international flights, the euro’s depreciation and the yuan’s appreciation.

    Liu said that the cost of domestic travel was even higher than certain outbound travel routes during the holiday.

    Package tours to resorts in Northeast China sold for between 5,000 and 8,000 yuan (US$800 and 1,280) during the Chinese New Year holiday. However, a package tour to Southeast Asian countries only cost about 4,000 yuan.

    In addition, local tourists prefer package tours for long-distance travel to places such as Europe and North America. When it comes to a short-distance travel, people prefer self-guided trips, according to Liu.

    Liu said this year is a golden time for local tourists to travel abroad, thanks to a price war between online and offline travel services, which is expected to become fiercer.

    About 500 local travel agencies sent 4.32 million tourists abroad last year, an increase of 17.63 percent compared with 2013, the paper said.

    CITS Shenzhen said the number of its outbound travelers grows by over 50 percent each year.

    (Martin Li, Huang Wentao)