中国农历新年掀旅游热潮

中国农历新年掀旅游热潮 　　

Traveling has become one of the most popular ways for the Chinese to celebrate Spring Festival.

　　According to statistics from the China National Tourism Administration, 231 million domestic trips were made this year, an increase of 14-percent compared to the last year's "Golden week."

　　Chinese people made 4.7 million trips outside China during the annual festival, a year-on-year increase of over 18-percent.

　　Cao Yuwei has more.

　　Report: China boasts a rich tourist landscape, with spring-like islands on the south and snow to the northeast.

　　Dai Bin¹, the President of China Tourism Academy, says the two regions above have become the most popular domestic attractions.

　　"Winter resorts like Hainan and Guangdong and the ice-snow tour of the northeast cities such as Heilongjiang are the top tourist draws in this year's Spring Festival. Take Hainan for instance, it has received 1.18million tourist trips, a year-on-year increase of 37.5%. Main tourist destinations have seen big growth in their tourist market. "

　　Many shows and ceremonies are organized for Chinese Lunar New Year. Cultural activities like temple fairs and flower markets have attracted lots of visitors.

　　According to a survey by the academy, foreign tourist destinations have surpassed the domestic spots for the first time.

　　Family tours have been a mainstream² of the outbound tours. Islands like Bali and Phuket are most popular with Chinese tourists.

　　But Dai Bin is noticing differences among Chinese tourists when it comes to choosing a foreign holiday.

　　"Outbound tourism increases quickly in the year of horse. Family tours, in most cases, have been predominant. People celebrate the Spring Festival while traveling abroad. We have noticed some changes in the tourist market. Japan and Korea are popular for eastern China while the popular newly emerging market goes for Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand trips."

　　Many foreign tourism institutions have begun to value China's emerging tourist market. An overall upgrade for Canadian visas began during the Lunar New Year. Chinese tourists could enjoy more conveniences like lower fees for visas.

　　Quite a few countries are extending an olive branch to China's outbound tourist market.

　　Countries that are visa-free for Chinese tourists have increased to forty five, according to the Ministry³ of Public Security.

　　Bradley Brouwer, the manager of the South Africa Tourism Administration in the Asia-pacific region, says South Africa, a top tourist draw for Chinese travelers, has taken a series of measures to facilitate the application for visas.

　　"We've tried very, very hard to make visa consultation⁴ much easier. So what we've done is we've in 2011 we opened up two visa offices outside the embassy to be easy. It is getting better gradually by gradually. The most important thing is that the visa's turnaround time is reduced from seven working days to five working days. And in some instances, they finish in four working days. So we're trying very hard to getting better. I believe in Lunar New Year, the visa offices would be very busy."

　　An increasing number of countries are providing conveniences like simpler visa procedure and better arrangement to issue visas for Chinese visitors.

　　For CRI I'm Cao Yuwei.

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。