Parents planning study tours for their children

Two months from summer vacation, parents are already making plans for their children.

Dozens of parents and children guests have since April been visiting Beijing brick-and-mortar shops owned by domestic online travel agency Ctrip, the agency reports.

"The online views of our summer vacation study tour products have increased by 120 percent in April compared with the previous month," said Zhang Jie, Ctrip's study tour general manager.

Zhang expects the number of young study travelers to grow by more than 50 percent compared with last year.

The US, the UK, Austria, Japan and Canada are among the most popular foreign destinations for study tours.

Beijing, northwestern Gansu province's Dunhuang, Shanghai, western Shaanxi province's Xi'an and eastern Jiangsu province's Nanjing topped the domestic destination list.

Wang Chunxia has arranged study tours for her son since 2015.

"We've been to deserts, grasslands, and (sections of) the Silk Road over the years," Wang said.

Wang has booked a two-week trip to Australia and a two-week trip to the US in August for her son, who is in the fifth grade.

"He will be sitting in on local classes and studying with local children there," Wang said.

Although the trips will cost her roughly 70,000 yuan, Wang said it's money well spent.

"He will learn things while having fun in those foreign lands, which will open his eyes and enable him to make new friends," she says.

Wang said her son now better understands different cultures and is more confident.

"I will keep sending him on these trips to see more places and know their culture and history," Wang said.