Outbound travel inclination still strong, survey shows

The financial crisis has not dampened Chinese mainlanders' enthusiasm for outbound travel, with Hong Kong ranked as the top overseas travel destination this year, a report by ACNielsen has revealed.

A majority of mainland travelers, or 85 percent of the interviewees, said they would "definitely" or "probably" travel outside the mainland within the year, either for leisure or business, a similar percentage as that in 2008, according to the survey by the global market research company.

The report also showed that even among non-travelers, 78 percent expressed their desire to travel this year, 19 percentage points higher than in 2008.