China's Spring Festival, which falls in mid-January this year, is the most important holiday period for the nation. Traditionally, Chinese tend to return home to dine with the whole family on New Year's Eve, the last day of the Chinese lunar calendar. But these days, many families use the holidays to go abroad for new holiday experiences. Let's take a look at some of the most popular destinations for Chinese holidaymakers this Spring Festival.

As the spring festival approaches, the ticket prices of popular holiday destinations are heating up. Starting from January 10th, the most popular flight routes are from Beijing to Wuhan, Shanghai to Changsha and Guangzhou to Mianyang. For most of these flight routes, after January 18th, tickets are almost at its full price or only first-class tickets are available.

Yunnan Lijiang is becoming a popular destination for holiday makers who want to stay in China yet still visiting an exotic place. Traditional hotspot Sanya still ranks at the top, analysts say the duty free stores in Sanya is about to see another sales peak.

Major travelling agencies said prices of hotels in Sanya won't exceed 10 percent of their original price level, due to monitoring by the price department. Some hotels and travelling agencies offer discount deals for personal travelers, through which bookings can be done on-line.

Meanwhile, the sales of outbound tours for the Spring Festival this year is drawing to an end. A manager from the China International Travel Service says trips to destinations such as the United States and Europe for this year's Spring Festival have almost been completely booked. Analysts estimate that prices will peak on January 22nd.