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During this month's Spring Festival holiday, nearly 26,000 Beijingers went abroad, up 14 percent from the previous year, but fewer changed their Renminbi for foreign currencies, Monday's Beijing Daily reports.
When a Mr. Yan, who gave only his surname, booked a package tour to Southeast Asia, the Shenzhou travel agency told him he was eligible to take 2,000 US dollars, double the prescribed sum since fewer tourists had opted for foreign currency recently.
He didn't bother either, as his colleagues told him Renminbi could be used in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
Zhou Tong, general manager of the Shenzhou travel agency confirmed the trend. Many of the company's 3,000 clients during the Spring Festival holidays did not use foreign currency.
Tourists tried to avoid the pitfalls of changing money since Renminbi was in circulation in neighboring countries and tended tobe worth more, said Guan Tao from the Beijing Foreign Exchange Department. Another reason was the exchange rates on the black market almost equaled those of the banks.
Though more Beijingers went abroad on private travel last year, foreign currency exchanges halved in 2002, according to the department.
(Peopel's Daily February 11, 2003)
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