Today the Chinese are welcoming the Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine’s Day). According to data from several booking websites, a large number of couples are choosing to spend the holiday travelling, as the number of airline ticket reservations to some romantic destinations such as Xiamen, Lijiang and Hangzhou have nearly tripled in recent years.

[photo/Ctrip]

More specifically, according to Ctrip, a Chinese top travel booking website, for the Qixi Festival this year, among the top 10 popular places of departure are Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Wuhan, Xi’an, Chengdu and Chongqing, while the top 10 popular domestic destinations include Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-la, Sanya, Yangshuo, Lhasa and Chaka Salt Lake. What’s more, romantic destinations abroad such as Boracay, Tahiti, Japan and France are also attractive to Chinese lovers.

[photo/tech.huanqiu.com]

In terms of the composition of travelers, the majority are younger. For example, almost half of airline ticket reservations on Ctrip are made by post-1995 born tourists, followed by the post-80s and the post-90s. In addition to young couples, the aged are also catching up with the trend, with a year-on-year growth of 72%.

[photo/tech.huanqiu.com]

In recent years, the Qixi Festival has been becoming more and more popular. Along with the discounts given by the booking websites, the Qixi travel market has been activated to a great extent.

[photo/Ctrip]