Despite the outbreak of bird flu in some Asian nations, many Chinese are choosing to spend the Spring Festival holidays overseas.

So far, 28,000 Beijing citizens went abroad for their holidays, up 8 percent from the last festival, the Beijing tourism administration said Monday.

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are the first option, winning 45 percent of the total. And 13 percent went to Australia and the Republic of Korea, while 12 percent went to Hong Kong and Macao.

In Shanghai, 26,822 local people chose to spend the Lunar New Year days in other nations, up 22.66 percent from last year.

Cao Xinyu, an executive with a Shanghai-based joint venture, booked seats for his parents to travel around Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as a special gift to his father, who was born in the Year of Monkey and is 60 years old.

"It is cold in winter in Shanghai while the weather in Southeast Asia is good, so I believe my parents will love it there," Cao said.

"Almost all the travel companies regard overseas travel as a significant business and competition is tough," said Liu Xiaojun, a tourism guide from the China Youth Travel Service.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2004)