The domestic tourism orders surged 168 percent year-on-year, and the outbound travel orders jumped 388 percent year-on-year during the three-day 2024 New Year holiday (Dec 30-Jan 1), according to the latest report from online travel agency Trip.com Group.

The per capita spending of tourists in high-end resort hotels and customized tours also showed increase, the report said.

The report pointed out that holiday travel remains a necessity of life for people and various forms of New Year's Eve activities and pro-consumption policies launched around the country during the holiday continued to drive the tourism economy to development.

More tourists are willing to hire a professional to design their vacation during a holiday. According to the report, customized tour orders for the New Year holiday climbed 290 percent year-on-year, seeing an increase of 25 percent from the same period in 2019.

As major cruise ships began to restart China departure routes, many people reserved the cruise tours for their holiday. During the three-day holiday, the booking volume of cruise tours increased 231 percent month-on-month.

The maiden commercial voyage tickets of Adora Magic City, China's first homegrown large cruise ship, were sold out one and a half months before the departure date on the Trip.com Group platform.

In addition, niche destinations with fewer tourists and beautiful views remain popular. Zibo in East China's Shandong province took the first spot among the top 10 dark-horses tourism destinations during the New Year holiday, with the tourism orders soaring 1,628 percent from a year earlier on the Trip.com Group platform.

Now, let's take a look at the top 10 dark-horse tourism destinations during the New Year holiday in China.