A travel preference survey conducted by Ctrip shows that 98% of the respondents plan to travel in 2017, an indication that travel has outpaced housing and automobile purchases as a top consumption item in China.

The survey also shows that some 60% of the respondents choose to travel abroad and their top three outbound destinations are Japan, Thailand and the U.S.  

The survey randomly sampled more than 2,000 Ctrip users in over 20 Chinese cities out of the OTA’s total 250 million registered members. Booking data from the company’s offerings this year such as group tour and individual travel were also taken into account using big data analytics.

More than 80% of the respondents regarded travel as their preferred recreational choice for 2017, and 73% planned to spend more than RMB 10,000 (USD 1,452) on travel this year.  

Some 57% of the polled travelers indicated that their travel budget for 2017 accounts for over 10% of their annual income, and 19% of the travelers will splurge at least 20% of their income on travel this year.

About 58.6% of those polled preferred free individual trips, while around 33% would opt for group tours. Around 50% of the travelers will choose group tours for cross-border travel. Some 10% are willing to try customized trips. (Translated by Jerry)