英语新闻丨Popular tourist cities compete to attract festival

While China's northern and southern attractions are in a tight contest to lure travelers during the approaching Spring Festival holiday that runs from Feb 10 to Feb 17, some overseas destinations have also joined the "traveling carnival" by issuing visa-friendly policies and showing goodwill gestures.

随着春节假期的临近（2月10日至2月17日），中国南北各大旅游景点正展开激烈竞争，以吸引游客。同时，一些海外目的地也通过发布签证友好政策和展示善意姿态加入了这场“旅游狂欢”。

Of the overseas destinations, Singapore and Thailand may be the biggest winners after China recently announced the mutual exemption of visas with these two countries.

在众多的海外目的地中，新加坡和泰国可能成为中国近期宣布与这两国互免签证后的最大赢家。

Chinese people holding ordinary passports can stay up to 30 days without a visa in Singapore for tourism, family visits and business trips, and the mutual visa-free policies with Singapore will come into effect from Feb 9 — the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The policy with Thailand will take effect from March 1, following a temporary visa-free arrangement currently in effect.

持普通护照的中国公民在新加坡旅游、探亲或商务出行时，可享受最长30天的免签停留。与新加坡的互免签证政策将于2月9日，即中国农历新年前夕生效。而与泰国的相关政策将从3月1日开始实施，目前已有临时免签安排。

"It's good news and it will be more convenient for us to travel to these Southeast Asian countries in the future. I've booked a four-day trip to Singapore this Spring Festival holiday with my family members and we will depart on Feb 13 — the fourth day of the holiday — after we finish gatherings with relatives," said Liu Lei, a 32-year-old from Huangshan, Anhui province.

来自安徽省黄山市的32岁游客刘磊表示：“这是好消息，将来我们去这些东南亚国家旅游会更方便。我已经预订了春节期间与家人前往新加坡的四日游，计划在与亲戚聚会后的2月13日，即假期的第四天出发。”

"I did some research online and found Singapore will organize some celebration events during the Chinese Spring Festival holiday like music shows, lantern shows and flower shows. I can't wait to experience the views and cultural atmosphere there," she added.

她补充道：“我在网上做了一些研究，发现新加坡在春节期间会举办一些庆祝活动，如音乐表演、灯会和花展。我迫不及待地想体验那里的风景和文化氛围。”

Fan Dongxiao, director of travel portal Tuniu's short-distance overseas travel department, said that Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are popular among Chinese travelers and China's mutually friendly visa policies with these destinations will boost outbound tourism. She said that tour products linking these destinations, like five-day tours to Singapore and Malaysia for the Spring Festival holiday, are hot items on the platform.

途牛旅游网短途海外旅游部门总监范冬晓表示，新加坡、泰国和马来西亚一直受到中国游客的欢迎，中国与这些目的地之间的友好签证政策将进一步推动出境旅游。她指出，平台上连接这些目的地的旅游产品，如春节假期的五天新加坡和马来西亚之旅，非常受欢迎。

Some European countries are also rising as popular choices for Chinese travelers thanks to the increasing numbers of flights, said travel agencies.

旅行社表示，由于航班数量不断增加，一些欧洲国家也成为中国游客的热门选择。

According to travel portal Qunar, hotel bookings to Russia, Spain, Italy and France for the holiday have seen continuous growth on the platform, and hotel bookings for overseas destinations peaked around Jan 10, while flight bookings peaked at the end of January. The Spring Festival holiday this year will see a consumption boom in tourism in the post-pandemic era, it said.

据去哪儿网数据显示，春节期间前往俄罗斯、西班牙、意大利和法国的酒店预订量持续增长，海外目的地的酒店预订量在1月10日左右达到高峰，而航班预订量在1月底达到高峰。今年春节假期将迎来疫情后时代的旅游消费热潮。

North European destinations with beautiful snow views and the aurora borealis including Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland are seeing skyrocketing popularity on Qunar because of people's growing passion for winter tourism.

由于人们对冬季旅游的热情不断高涨，去哪儿网上北欧目的地，如挪威、芬兰、丹麦和冰岛的受欢迎程度飙升，这些地区拥有美丽的雪景和极光。

According to Qunar, searches for distinctive hotels in North European destinations — for example, cabins with dome-like sunroofs in cedar forests — have doubled on the platform as of Jan 22 compared with the previous month, as travelers may have a better experience of appreciating the aurora borealis in these rooms.

据去哪儿网数据显示，截至1月22日，平台上北欧目的地特色酒店的搜索量较上月翻了一番，例如松树林中带有圆顶天窗的小屋，因为游客在这些房间里可以更好地欣赏极光。

The travel portal said that as of Tuesday, some popular domestic destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai have also seen hotel bookings more than triple year-on-year, and about 70 percent of people who booked tour products on the platform will start their trips from Feb 11 — the second day of the holiday.

该旅游网站表示，截至周二，一些国内热门目的地，如北京和上海的酒店预订量也同比增长超过三倍。约70%在平台上预订旅游产品的游客将从2月11日，即假期的第二天开始他们的旅程。

Train and flight tickets to these popular destinations sold out within seconds after becoming available to travelers. Economy class flights from Beijing to Xishuangbanna and Shanghai to Dali — two popular destinations in Yunnan province on Feb 8 — a day before New Year's Eve, were already sold out, Qunar said.

这些热门目的地的火车和航班机票在开售后数秒内就被抢购一空。去哪儿网表示，2月8日，即除夕前一天，从北京飞往西双版纳、从上海飞往大理这两个云南热门目的地的经济舱航班机票已经售罄。

Figures from online travel agency Trip.com Group show bookings for the holiday to Sanya have doubled year-on-year as of mid-January. Bookings to Kunming, with its year-round spring weather, have seen a sixfold surge as of mid-January compared with the previous year, according to the group.

携程集团的数据显示，截至1月中旬，春节期间前往三亚的预订量同比增长了一倍。而前往昆明，这个四季如春的目的地的预订量，截至1月中旬与去年同期相比增长了六倍。

Visa-waiver Policy

互免签证政策 

Aurora

n. 极光