Tourists hear call of island destinations

A man poses for pictures with workers during an expo at the 2016 International Islands Tourism Conference in Zhoushan,Zhejiang province, on Thursday.Wu Linhong / For China Daily

Increasing numbers of Chinese choose to go abroad for relaxation, not just sightseeing

A quarter of outbound Chinese mainland tourists headed to islands last year, according to statistics released at the 2016 International Islands Tourism Conference in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province.

According to The World Islands Tourism Development Report released on Thursday, the number of outbound Chinese mainland tourists hit 117 million in 2015. That accounts for nearly 10 percent of global inter-national tourists and makes China the world's largest source of tourists.

"Although sightseeing tourism is still the most popular form of travel for Chinese tourists, more and more have been enjoying the lei-sure style in recent years," said Dai Bin, head of the China Tourism Academy.

"Island trips top leisure tourism," Dai said.

According to a report on the 2016 Spring Festival, domestic and foreign island tourism accounted for half of travel volume. The rate at some international travel agencies even exceeded 80 percent.

That makes Lefkada, an island city in Greece, confident about its potential for Chinese visitors.

"We have more clear water and scenery in Lefkada. Chinese tourists only know Santorini so far, but they will love Lefkada once they visit there," said Konstantinos Drakontaeidis, the mayor.

"We came here last June and started our sister city relationship with Zhoushan. That provides us a tunnel to enhance our cooperation with China. Alot of business-men came with me here to Zhoushan this year, and they had contacted some local and national travel agencies and relevant companies. We hope to promote some special routes and packages for Chinese tourists soon," he said.

Marcelo K. Peterson, governor of Pohnpei state in Micronesia, shares the same ambition.

"When I visited China two months ago and talked to the locals, only a few people knew about us. But they know Guam and Fiji. So we came to promote ourselves."

"At present, we have a visa exemption policy for Chinese tourists. But they have to apply for a US visa and transfer at Guam. That increases the travel expenses and preparation time. We are trying to launch more flight routes so Chinese people can enjoy our favored policy," he said.

Air Seychelles, the national airline of the island country, launched a direct flight from Beijing to Mahe Island in February. The flight takes off every Wednesday from Beijing and returns on Tues-day, cutting one-way flying time to 10 hours and 50 minutes and the ticket price by one-third.

Hannah Babby Lafortune, principal secretary of tourism and culture of the Seychelles, told China Daily that 15,000 Chinese visited last year, ranking sixth among its inbound tourists.

"It has great potential," Lafortune said.

shixf@chinadaily.com.cn