Wanderlust hits Chinese(2)

An art installation in front of the Sydney Opera House, proves a major draw for tourists. Beijing's temple fairs (Photo/China Daily)

Various hot springs across Jilin province were packed with tourists, and likewise, local ski resorts.

Other hot spring scenic spots in Jiangsu, Guizhou and Hunan provinces also drew large numbers of tourists. Hotels in these spots were fully booked during the holiday.

The number of tourists who flew to Hainan province to escape the cold increased by 4.44 percent year-on-year and those who drove to the island grew by 5.85 percent during the holiday. Local high-end hotels saw occupancy rates of about 80 percent.

"China has wide regional diversity. Many Chinese have not experienced snow where they live and want to explore tourism spots that boast lots of snow," Jiang says.

She says Club Med set up a facility near Yabuli ski resort in Heilongjiang province, and the Wanda Group established a hotel cluster near Changbai Mountain in Jilin province, offering a comfortable and leisurely experience for tourists to ski and go sightseeing.

Other major areas in China also witnessed significant growth in the tourism market over the holiday.

Beijing received 9.01 million tourists during the festival, including 1.43 million from other parts of China and overseas, up 7.1 percent year-on-year. Tourism revenues amounted to 4.8 billion yuan ($762 million), up 9.1 percent, according to local government agency Beijing Tourism Development Commission.

Temple fairs remained the biggest attraction. The Ditan temple fair, the biggest of its kind in Beijing, attracted about 978,000 visitors, followed by the Longtan and the Old Summer Palace fairs.

Jiangsu, Shandong and Liaoning provinces and Shanghai all witnessed growth in both the number of tourists and tourism revenue, according to the report.

The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region staged more than 100 festive celebrations, and Guizhou province organized 90 cultural activities to bring in tourists.

Yan'an, Tongchuan and Xi'an in Shaanxi province stood out as new hot tourism destinations after President Xi Jinping's visits to these cities on the eve of Spring Festival, the report said.

Despite the large numbers of people up and about, public order was maintained. The national tourism administration received 93 complaints, down 50.3 percent from last year.

Major travel agencies, hotels and shopping facilities have strengthened their business operations, leading to improved levels of customer satisfaction.