More than 60,000 Shenzhen residents have registered with travel agencies for packaged tours during the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

A city tourism administration source said more people had applied for overseas trips this year while those taking domestic tours was almost the same as last year.

A China International Travel Service spokesman said the Shenzhen agency had arranged more than 30 overseas tours and the number of applicants had exceeded expectations.

The most popular domestic destinations are Beijing, the three provinces in northeast China, Hainan and Yunnan.

Guangdong Province has nearly 100 hot spring resorts. Their popularity increases when the weather gets colder. Advanced bookings are said to be required for a room at the resorts during the Spring Festival holidays. A Shenzhen travel agency is promoting four hot spring tours to Shaoguan, Longmen, Yangjiang and Qingyuan. It had reserved more than 100 rooms for the holidays at the resorts in these cities.

(Shenzhen Daily January 21, 2004)