More Chinese are spending spring festival abroad; Europe is high on the list of preferred destinations

When Wu Chong boarded a flight from Paris to Shanghai on Feb 4 she suddenly felt perfectly at home, surrounded by row after row of her compatriots. Yet during the eight-day trip to Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic she had just completed, she had barely seen a Chinese soul, with the exception of a few small groups in Prague.

"The flight was almost exclusively Chinese people, who were all busy putting their bags of new clothes and other stuff into the overhead bins," Wu says.

While Europe has been a big draw for Chinese in the recent Spring Festival holiday, they continue to be very choosy about where they go in the continent. Among their top considerations are the ease in obtaining visas and their flexibility, the influence of popular culture and the special services laid on for Chinese tourists.

A record 4.5 million Chinese are estimated to have traveled overseas during the holiday, a rise of 12.5 percent over the previous year, the China Tourism Administration says.

Of those travelers, Han Fang, an employee at Mandarin Voyages, a French travel agency that deals mainly with tourists from China, says agencies are citing Paris as one of the hottest destinations.

"We have seen a rapidly increasing number of Chinese tourists in Europe this year," she says. "France and Italy are among the most popular destinations for them."

The French government has pledged to fast-track the application process for Chinese tourists, which will allow them to obtain a visa in 48 hours. Han is optimistic that the move will attract more Chinese tourists to France and other European countries.

"We've also noticed that a growing number of Chinese tourists are not satisfied with simply taking photos in front of landmarks and shopping for luxury goods. Many of them prefer in-depth travel packages because they want to spend several days in one place - Paris, for example - and they want to explore the city, visit the museums and gain greater knowledge about its history. Many of them have clear plans and targets of their own."