Outbound tourism grows during Dragon Boat Festival holiday

BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tourists made 2.71 million outbound trips during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, up 7.2 percent year on year, official data showed Tuesday.

The most popular overseas destinations included Russia, Thailand, Italy, Vietnam and France, according to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

There was a rapid increase in the number of outbound tourists visiting Europe during the holiday, the CNTA said.

Within the country, 82.6 million trips were made by tourists, with 33.7 billion yuan (4.9 billion U.S. dollars) of business income earned by the domestic tourism sector, according to the CNTA.

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of a year according to the Chinese calendar, and falls on May 30 this year. Traditions of the festival include racing dragon boats and eating Zongzi, glutinous rice and fillings wrapped with bamboo or reed leaves.