Chinese wanderlust will be alive during the Spring Festival as 6.5 million people are expected to travel overseas instead of going home to spend their Lunar New Year with nosy relatives.
Although it?s still a fraction of those choosing to go home, the trend has been growing, according to data from China?s largest online travel services provider, Ctrip.com International Ltd.
The Lunar New Year is one of the two so-called ?golden weeks? for travel in China, the other being the one-week National Day holiday in October. This year it?s the week from Feb. 15-21.

Thailand remains the hottest destination for 4 years running given the affordable flights and the country?s sunny beaches. South Korea, another favorite, saw numbers of Chinese visitors dwindle as relations between the two countries soured. The number of Chinese travelers to the country started dropping in March due to a fall-out over the U.S. THAAD missile defense system deployed in the country. But this was good news for Japan, which managed to divert travellers to its shores. Vietnam also saw a huge increase in the number of Chinese visitors after President Xi Jinping?s visit during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leader?s meeting. Those in their 30?s and 40?s accounted for nearly half of all Chinese travelers who went abroad, while those in their 20?s and those born after the year 2000, were the two fastest-growing segments.
But there is something more than just curiosity about the world that was fuelling the...