Beating the Heat for Dragon Boat Festival

Family trips and destinations with cooler weather have become the most popular choices for travelers planning for approaching Dragon Boat Festival, travel agencies said.

According to a report by Tuniu, an online travel agency in Nanjing, attractions in northwestern provinces, including Xi'an, Shaanxi; Xining, Qinghai; and Lanzhou, Gansu, are receiving more reservations because of cooler weather and beautiful scenery. People want to get away from sunstroke.

The festival falls on June 7 this year, between International Children's Day on June 1 and Father's Day on June 16, making the holiday a good time for family trips.

Tuniu found that theme parks — for example, Shanghai Disney Resort — attract a great number of travelers. Also, Ctrip, another online travel service provider in Shanghai, said attractions for family trips registered a 200 percent increase over the same period last year.

Folk activities, including dragon boat races and eating zong zi, a pyramidal leaf-wrapped package filled with glutinous rice and other ingredients, are also popular with travelers.

The three-day holiday, from July 7 to 9, makes neighboring countries and regions hotter choices for people who like to travel overseas.

Ctrip said the top three outbound destinations on its platform are Japan, Thailand and Russia.

About 100 million visits are expected to be made by Chinese travelers in the coming Dragon Boat Festival, according to travel agencies.