Big jump in summer outbound trips seen

Many parents have arranged summer trips as a reward for their children who have just finished their gaokao, also known as the national college entrance exam.

Nearly 70 percent of parents have booked domestic or outbound trips in the next two months for their children, China's biggest online travel agency Ctrip reports. And 60 percent of those bookings are for outbound trips.

When compared with cellphones, computers or movies and video games, most parents believe that travel is beneficial for their children, according to Ctrip.

At least for half of the parents it will be the first time they are sending their children abroad, the report says.

The average expenditure on each child going abroad is around 10,000 yuan ($1,471), and about 15 percent of parents are willing to pay more than 20,000 yuan per child.

There are more than 9 million high school graduates this year, and if one third of them spend 5,000 yuan each, the high school graduation travel market is expected to be 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), says an expert with Ctrip.

With relaxed visa policies and more regular and chartered flights, outbound trips have seen big jump.

Meanwhile, Ctrip has rolled out summer products that cover nearly 2,000 destinations in more than 100 countries and regions.

For now, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia are popular destinations, says Ctrip.

Trips to some of the hot spots can be found for roughly 2,000 yuan.

In addition to high school graduates, an increasing number of children from other age groups are also being taken abroad by their parents.

Family travelers are major segment in the summer tourism market, says Ctrip, adding that they account for 40 percent of all travelers.

The number of summer vacationers who go on outbound trips is expected to cross 30 million, it says.