Chinese rank US No 1 road trip destination

Almost half of the Chinese tourists prefer the United States as their destination for their overseas self-driving trip, according to a survey conducted jointly by Mafengwo.com, China's largest tourist information-sharing website, and zuzuche.com, one of the leading online car rental reservation platforms in China.

Figures from the China outbound self-driving 2014 report shows that more than 46 percent of the Chinese tourists prefer the United States for the destination of self-driving trips, way more popular than other countries that ranked high, including Germany at 7.89 percent, Australia at 7.6 percent, France at 6.23 percent, and Thailand at 4.94 percent.

Other popular destinations include Italy with 3.65 percent, Canada with 3.56 percent, Great Britain with 3.14 percent, New Zealand, 3 percent, and Turkey at 2.38 percent.

With easier visa application process, rapidly developing online tourism agencies in China, an ever-increasing disposable personal income of surging middle class families and the increasing impulse to explore the world in an exclusive way, self-driving trips are more than ever popular with Chinese tourist, especially the young.

"For me the self-drive holiday is the best way to see and explore a country," said Tony Wang, a 33-year-old Shanghai resident, who went on a road trip in the United States last year. "You simply avoid waiting for local buses, taxis or trains and travel at your own pace, and there is nothing quite like the freedom of a self-drive holiday."

Just like Wang, many of those who fancy self-driving trips are between 25 to 44 years old, mostly industry experts; middle and senior managers and entrepreneurs, said the report.

Many of the self-driving tourists, as many as 60.94 percent, are from the first tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with those from the eastern coastal cities, like Zhejiang province, Jiangsu province and Sichuan province, also witnessing a rapid growth rate.

Some 28.5 percent of the interviewees report an annual income of 260,000 - 500,000 yuan, followed by 25.7 percent of the self-driving enthusiasts who report an annual income of 160,000 to 250,000 yuan, it said.

According to the report, the United States also had a relatively lower car rental cost, around 287 yuan each day on average, a little bit higher than Thailand with the daily expense of 184 yuan and Australia with a daily 260 yuan cost, while cheaper than the other destinations including Germany, Turkey and the Great Britain with around 300 yuan each day, and Canada, New Zealand, France and Italy even more than that.