Tian Yuan, a 27-year-old resident of Beijing, is busy planning her honeymoon in Greece and Italy this month.

"A weaker euro is definitely a reason that my husband and I decided to travel to Europe," Tian said. "It means everything will be cheaper than before although Greece might not be as stable as it was because of the crisis."

Hartmann, from Germany's Beijing embassy, said the trend of increasing numbers of Chinese tourists visiting Germany has been very positive over the last few years.

Compared with June 2011, the euro has lowered by roughly 15 percent, said Oliver Sedlinger, director of marketing and sales in Beijing at the German National Tourist Office.

He believes that the favorable exchange rate will further increase the already growing interest in trips to Europe and especially boost travel to Germany.

"In the first three months of this year, we saw an increase of 20.8 percent compared with 2011," Sedlinger said.

The number of overnight stays by Chinese travelers in Germany over the last five years show a massive increase, from 950,000 in 2007 to a new record of 1.32 million in 2011. "For the first time, China overtook Japan as Germany's most important source market in Asia," he said.

Taking advantage of China's booming tourist market, travel agencies in Europe are increasing investment in their China business departments to attract more Chinese tourists and business groups.

"We will hire more people in our European office. We already have an office in Beijing and will open an additional one in Shanghai this year," said Yu Miao, manager of the Far East department of Incentive Europe, a travel agency in the Netherlands.

"We are very positive about prospects for the Chinese market. A weaker euro is clearly going to stimulate more tourists from China and will significantly boost their spending on luxury goods," Yu said.

Yu's company recorded revenue of 3.5 million euros ($4.38 million) from the Chinese market in 2011. He expects the number to grow by 20 percent this year.

With the rising affluent class in China and their growing purchasing power, the demands of Chinese tourists are changing.

"They used to spend the minimum money and visit the most places but now Chinese tourists are not satisfied with simply taking photos and shopping. They want good quality and better services," Yu said.

"So travel products such as a multi-day tour of southern France or a tour of French wine chateaus are becoming increasingly popular," he added.

High-end business groups from China are also becoming a major source of profit for travel agencies.

"There are many large-scale meetings and exhibitions held in Europe every year, which guarantees a stable source of business groups from China," said Wang Yan, a senior account manager with China Comfort Travel Co in Beijing.

"Capital-rich Chinese companies in the auto, medical and mining industries often organize incentive trips to Europe for their employees. This type of demand is also growing very fast," Wang said.

Meanwhile, the boom in the Chinese tourism market is raising competition between travel agencies to a point more intense than ever before. Foreign travel companies in China are also eyeing a slice of the lucrative Chinese tourism market.

"We've seen increasing competition from European travel companies such as the German company TUI Travel Plc which has done well in terms of attracting Chinese business groups and tourists," Wang said.

Paul Bunsell, first secretary from the trade section at the EU Delegation, said it is too early to tell whether the fluctuations in the value of the euro against the yuan will have a long-lasting impact on tourism flows to the European Union from China.

Bunsell hopes to encourage more European travel agencies and tour operators to engage in China's outbound travel market, resulting in a longer lasting and more predictable scenario.

Contact the writers at wang zhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn and lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn