The Golden Week is becoming a time to celebrate New China's founding - by traveling abroad, largely to shop. Yang Feiyue reports.

This year's weeklong National Day holiday became international vacation time for a record number of Chinese mainlanders.

Outbound tourism during the holiday that ended Oct 7 surged 14 percent to over 4 million overseas travelers this year, Shanghai-based tourism-consulting service Gold Palm reports.

And the number of trips abroad booked through the country's largest online travel agency, Ctrip, doubled this year, the company says.

Japan, Korea and Thailand were, respectively, the top destinations.

Chinese tourists to Japan doubled, says Ctrip's publicity manager, Yan Xin.

About 400,000 travelers from the mainland visited and spent about 100 billion yen ($833.7 million), Guangzhou Daily reports.

"Scenic spots and shopping streets (in Japan) were crowded with Chinese tourists," says Shen Qing, a tour guide from a travel agency based in Jiangsu province's Suzhou.

"Most were shopping for cosmetics and electrical appliances."

Shen led a group of 15 Chinese on a six-day trip through Japan's Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

Tokyo's Ginza shopping and entertainment district and Osaka's Shinsaibashi Plaza were especially packed with Chinese, she adds.

South Korea quickly regained favor after the Middle East respiratory syndrome crisis, thanks to visa-policy relaxations for Chinese and tourism promotions.

Seoul's Mayor Park Won-soon visited Beijing in August and promised concerts featuring popular musicians, discounted goods, fireworks and cultural activities would greet China's October-holiday visitors.

Roughly 210,000 Chinese from the mainland arrived in South Korea over the holiday, up 30 percent over 2014's National Day Golden Week, the country's tourism authority reports.

Most are shopping for cheaper clothes, bags and accessories, while experiencing local culture.

Ctrip's hottest sellers were six-day group trips to Japan's Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone and Tokyo, and four-day trips to South Korea's Jeju Island.

Air-ticket sales to Phuket and Bali islands, and Mauritius, soared this year thanks to eased visa procedures and favorable exchange rates for the yuan against destination currencies, says Sun Guohui, an officer with travel website Qunar.com's international flight business.

Long-distance trips to Europe and the United States were also extremely popular.

Many Chinese took three days off to carve out a 12-day vacation this year, thanks to the narrow gap between the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, says Jiang Yiyi, director of the China Tourism Academy-affiliated International Tourism Development Institute.

"That contributed to the long-distance tourism market's growth in North America and Europe," she says.

The Chinese passport's unbridling and increasing horsepower also propelled travel farther across the globe.

Chinese now get visa-free access to roughly 50 countries and regions. Many others have relaxed visa policies for Chinese.

"Now, a college student in Beijing with a credit card can qualify to apply for a Japan visa," Jiang says.

South Korea removed its visa-application fees and opened a new visa center in Guangzhou in September. The country extended its visa-fee exemption for Chinese from July 6 to Oct 31 and has granted 15-day visa-free stays for Chinese group travelers headed next to Japan.

The policy only applies when all travel-group members visit simultaneously.

The United States was the top long-distance destination for individual travelers. That's buoyed by a 10-year multiple-entry visa effective from the end of 2014.

The US is expected to see a continuing rise in visitors after the holiday because of President Xi Jinping's September visit, Yan explains.

China and the US declared during Xi's visit aspirations to exceed 5 million tourists visiting the two countries next year through tourism promotions.

Many Chinese rushed to Europe before Schengen visas required biometric data on Oct 12, Ctrip says.

About 526 million travelers made trips within the Chinese mainland over the National Day Golden Week, 10.7 percent more than last year, the China National Tourism Administration reports.

Tourism income increased nearly 18 percent to 421.3 billion yuan ($65.8 billion).

The number of day-trippers stood at 412 million, up 9.8 percent. The number of people who spent a night or more in hotels grew by 14.7 percent to 412 million, the administration reports.

Beijing attracted 11.5 million tourists in the holiday period, up 1.6 percent. Tourism income reached 8.3 billion, up 7 percent.

The municipality's historical sites witnessed a sharp increase in visitors because of the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the anti-fascist war's victory, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development says.

Visits to the Tian'anmen Rostrum area surged nearly 60 percent to 220,000.

Traditional Chinese medicine and museums lured foreigners, too.

Roughly 1.9 million tourists visited over 150 museums in Beijing. The capital's TCM museum, acupuncture and massage facilities drew many foreign guests, the Beijing tourism commission says.

Hong Kong witnessed a slowdown in the growth of mainland visits. Roughly 1 million people from the Chinese mainland traveled to the city, 3.26 percent over the past year.

Japan's and South Korea's new competitiveness may be affecting Hong Kong's previous stature, China Tourism Academy researcher Yang Yanfeng says.

The yuan depreciation and Chinese stock market didn't make a noticeable dent. Shopping remained at the top of the list for visitors.

Due to the depreciation, Chinese tourists would generally lose no more than 300 yuan per 10,000 yuan they spent abroad, which wouldn't affect them much, Yan says.

The yuan is still much stronger compared with the euro and dollar than in the past, experts point out.

Zhang Lei from Fujian province went on a shopping spree in Japan over the holiday.

Zhang mostly bought made-in-Japan daily necessities and cosmetics, especially facial masks, which she says were cheaper and of better quality.

"I carried a suitcase with only a third of space filled before leaving for Japan, so I'd have space for things I'd buy."

Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/14/2015 page19)