China's tourism industry witnesses surge in run-up to Spring Festival

Travel bookings to Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang province have increased more than 14-fold compared with the same period last year, mainly by tourists from the south of the country. Sanya in south China's Hainan province and Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan province are the destinations of choice for many northern tourists.

As a time known for family reunions, the Spring Festival holiday will see more families hitting the road. Bookings on Ctrip show that 47 percent of all tourists are choosing to travel with their families. Among them, most have chosen to rent cars, book tailor-made trips, or take chartered bus tours with local guides.