Chinese people enjoy the Spring Festival with an overseas shopping spree. (File Photo)

The Spring Festival - China's lunar New Year  is becoming a significant holiday for the global tourism industry. Even though China witnessed a weakening of the RMB at the beginning of 2016, it did not stop around 6 million Chinese people from going on shopping sprees abroad. Many young people with new ideas about the Spring Festival spent it overseas rather than returning to hometowns and reuniting with their families.

Chinese people enjoy the Spring Festival with an overseas shopping spree. (File Photo)

6 million person world shopping spree

According to data from China's tourism industry, the number of Chinese visitors traveling overseas during the Spring Festival reached 6 million. The favorite three destinations were Thailand, Japan and South Korea. The most popular three destination cities were Seoul, Taipei and Bangkok.

"The costs of domestic travel are about the same with as traveling abroad. I have travelled in southern regions of China in the previous Spring Festivals. There were not adequate service personnel in China. Many restaurants closed down and it was rather difficult for us to take taxies. We also need to pay more money - several times more than before - for hotels. Rather than spending an unhappy Spring Festival traveling at home, why not go abroad to enjoy a really fun holiday? " said a man of Beijing city, who traveled overseas during Spring Festival 2016.

Chinese people enjoy the Spring Festival with an overseas shopping spree. (File Photo)

Themed tourism is becoming a new way to travel

According to the data, there were ten hot tourism themes this year. Among of them, health treatment, pedestrianism and skiing made up 17 percent, 16 percent and 15 percent.

Our reporter learned from Ctrip, one of China's most popular travel websites, that expenditure on health treatment was the highest and the average consumption exceeded 20,000 yuan. The best ways for urban Chinese to relieve stress included outdoor cycling, walking and skiing in the destinations with warm weather and clean air.

Young people spend the Spring Festival traveling abroad instead of returning to their hometowns

The Spring Festival is supposed to be the holiday when those young people who struggle go live independently far from home return to their hometowns to reunite with families. But more and more young people choose to travel abroad instead.

Xiao Yu took her parents on a trip to Phuket Island rather than go back home. "Girls in my hometown always get married early. The old age girls like me must be educated by families at home. Rather than listening to their complaints and questions, why not avoid so much attention from relatives by traveling overseas with my parents? " said Xiao Yu, who works in Beijing.

This article was edited and translated from 《600万国人境外过年疯狂血拼》. Source: Beijing Evening News. The author is Fu Yang.