Beijing residents heading south to escape winter smog, cold

Beijing residents are preparing for trips to cities in southern China to escape the worsening smog and chilly weather, online travel agency Qunar said on Wednesday. 

The company said searches for flights from the capital to the southern provinces of Hainan and Yunnan had risen rapidly since Tuesday.

In particular, searches for flights to Lijiang in Yunnan had increased by 50 percent compared with the last month.

Flights from Beijing to Hainan's Sanya have been the second-most popular search topic on the Qunar platform for two consecutive days, behind only to flights from the capital to Shanghai.

The data is based on 150 million registered users. 

Ctrip, another online travel agency, said searches using the words "escape the smog and cold weather" have risen by over 300 percent on its platform since Tuesday.

Sanya, Lijiang and Xiamen in Fujian province were the top three destinations for Beijing travelers.

The company said outbound destinations such as Thailand have also become popular due to preferential visa policies for Chinese travelers.

"Over 100 travelers booked packages to Phuket island in Thailand yesterday, with 70 percent of the packages booked from Beijing," a Ctrip representative said on Wednesday.