As the number of tourists climbs in July during the summer vacation, prices of local tourist groups increase accordingly. In addition, prices of air tickets are much higher than that of June. Therefore, most domestic tourist routes report price hikes.

According to insiders, the peak time for summer holiday travel is yet to come. The number of tourists is expected to reach the highest during August 1st to 10th when many senior high school graduates receive their admission notices from universities. Quoted prices of travel agencies will further increase at that time.

After the comparison of various travel agencies, prices of more than 20 domestic routes have increased 80 to 900 yuan over one week earlier. Among these popular routes, prices of tourist groups to Yunnan's Kunming, Dali and Lijiang report the highest growth rate.

In addition to regular price rise factors, price hike of gasoline and diesel oil has also directly contributed to the rising cost of travel agencies. Thus quoted prices of tourist groups jump accordingly.

(Chinanews.cn July 7, 2005)