Holiday to be boon for places overseas

BEIJING - Even as some travel destinations struggle to attract tourists, flocks of Chinese are expected to go overseas during the National Day holiday, according to the country's top tourism think tank.

The China Tourism Academy, a research institute, forecasts that 2.2 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas during the weeklong holiday that starts on Oct 1.

The number of outbound tourists is expected to increase by a double-digit percentage above what it was in the same period this past year, the academy said. And travelers during the holiday are expected to spend $950 each on average, or $2.1 billion in total.