Shanghai tourists topped the list of Chinese tourists to leave the mainland over the Spring Festival holiday according to a survey by leading national travel website ctrip.com.

Shanghai came top out of 40 Chinese cities surveyed. Beijing took second place and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province ranked third.

The top three were followed by Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xiamen, Wuhan and Qingdao.

Altogether 39,377 tourists from Shanghai traveled outside the mainland during the holiday period spanning January 25 to 31. This represents a 5.26 percent rise last year, according to the Shanghai Holiday Office.

Shanghai received 2.49 million tourists during the period, 4.39 percent more than the same period last year. Tourism revenue rose by 1.6 percent, reaching 1.98 billion yuan (US$0.29 billion) this holiday period.

In another index, Beijing topped all 40 cities as the most popular destination during the holiday, followed by Hong Kong, Sanya, Xiamen, Shanghai, Harbin, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

For Shanghainese tourists Japan was the favorite overseas destination during the holiday with the number of travelers surpassing 14,000 for the first time, followed by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Australia.

(Shanghai Daily February 2, 2009)