Over 100m Chinese to travel during Dragon Boat Festival

SHANGHAI -- Over 100 million Chinese are expected to travel across China and overseas during the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, Ctrip, China's popular online travel agency, said on Wednesday.

Ctrip said in its latest report that holidaymakers have booked tours to over 800 destinations across 92 countries and regions through its platform during the holiday from June 7 to 9.

According to the China Tourism Academy, the Chinese people made more than 89 million trips in the country during last year's Dragon Boat Festival and spent 36.2 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) in total.

Though Dragon Boat Festival is typically not peak season, more people prefer to travel this year due to lower ticket prices of domestic destinations, more convenient transport and visa policies, said the report.

The most popular overseas destinations are Japan, Thailand, Russia, Vietnam, Italy and Indonesia, while Sanya, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Chengdu are among the top destinations at home.

The average cost of overseas tours during the holiday will be around 4,500 yuan (about $652) per person, 13 percent lower than that of the May Day holiday, the nearest peak travel season.