Around 7 million Chinese tourists will travel abroad during the Chinese New Year holiday, according to a report from online travel agency Ctrip. The report revealed that people from 100 Chinese cities had booked trips to nearly 500 destinations in more than 90 countries and regions.

As reported by Antara, among the most popular destinations such as Thailand and Mauritius, Indonesia was chosen by tourists wishing to escape the winter cold and enjoy tropical weather.

Indonesia received 2.7 million Chinese tourists in 2018, while this year, the Tourism Ministry has set a target to attract 3.5 million. The country remains an attractive destination for Chinese tourists, who in 2017 made up the largest group of foreign tourists (1.97 million) to visit Indonesia.

In the first year of the new millennium, a modest 10.5m overseas trips have been made by Chinese residents. Fast forward to 2017 and the figure was 145m – an astounding increase of 1,380 per cent.

In less than two decades China has grown from travel minnows to the world’s most robust outbound market, leapfrogging the US – and leaving it in its wake. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Chinese tourists overseas spent $261.1bn in 2016, up from around $10bn in the year 2000 (the figure for 2017 is likely to top $300bn). Collectively, America’s globetrotters parted with a relatively paltry $123.6bn.

Now consider this: just seven per cent of Chinese citizens – or 99 million people – possess a passport, compared to around 40 per cent of Americans, and 76 per cent of Britons.

Sine doubt The potential for further growth – China’s population, is 1.415bn – is staggering. The China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) predicts that overseas trips by the country’s residents will increase from last year’s figure of 145m to more than 400m by 2030.