Decades of growth spur rise in overseas travel

Continued growth

According to the China Tourism Academy, the nation's outbound tourism sector continues to grow. Last year, Chinese travelers made 150 million visits overseas, a rise of 14.7 percent from 2017.

Sun Jie, CEO of Ctrip, an online travel provider based in Shanghai, said: "When Ctrip was founded 20 years ago, only 10.5 million outbound trips were made by Chinese tourists annually. Today, the number has risen to 150 million, and it is still growing."

Now, whether travelers are looking for the cheapest airfares or the most luxurious resorts, they are spoiled for choice when booking transportation and accommodations, she added.

The rapid development of outbound tourism has also changed people's preferences when it comes to destinations and travel experience.

Sun said the developments have been obvious. "They (travelers) are looking beyond price, and searching for quality tours. They're less interested in traditional itineraries and more concerned about discovering diverse and novel travel experiences," she noted.

"Hundreds of millions of outbound Chinese tourists have started to see the world, but the next generation is already exploring locations off the beaten track, broadening their horizons to less-traveled regions of the world, creating job opportunities in directly-related industries such as hospitality, aviation, retail and catering, as well as indirect jobs."