Ski trips all the rage for lunar holiday
14/1/2005 7:25
Shanghai Daily news
Enthusiasm for the usually marketable tours to Southeast Asian destinations
has dampened significantly by the December 26 tsunami. Individuals looking to
travel during the Spring Festival are ignoring Asian beach destinations and
looking at skiing trips or tours to either Hong Kong or Macau. Many local
travel companies said Hainan Island and countries not affected by the tsunami
catastrophe are popular choices. "Skiing tours to South Korea and Japan are
selling well," said Zhao Dexiang, general manager of the Shanghai International
Travel Service. "We've also designed more trips to Hong Kong and Macau, and
booked 10 percent more air seats during the holiday," Zhao said prices and
trip durations are similar to Southeast Asian beach trips, the main reasons
these places have become popular. A seven-day tour to the resort island of
Phuket in Thailand before the tsunami was about 5,000 yuan (US$602), he said,
while a five-day trip to Seoul and Jeju Island in South Korea during the Spring
Festival will be about 4,000 yuan. According to a survey on people's Spring
Festival travel plans, conducted by Shanghai-based Ctrip.com, 40 percent of
those who initially planned to go to Southeast Asian countries have changed
their routes to inbound products. Those surveyed includes 3,000 members of
the country's largest online travel agency. Each has an annual income between
30,000 yuan and 60,000 yuan. Sanya in Hainan Province and Lijiang, Yunnan
Province, are the most popular destinations in the country. Meanwhile, 38
percent of trip planners said they would still travel abroad, but destinations
had changed to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia or somewhere in
Europe. Close to 20 percent, hoping for a possible discount, said they will
travel to unaffected areas of the tsunami-stricken countries. The survey also
indicated that skiing is considerably more popular this year. About 32 percent
of those choosing domestic travel packages said they plan to go skiing, most of
whom will head to Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.
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