China's National Day holiday expected to see booming self-driving tours

Sept. 17, Chinese tourists are showing a growing interest for "self-driving tours," as many plan to enjoy the upcoming National Day holiday in a freer way.

Online searches for self-driving tours increased by 35 percent ahead of the holiday compared with normal days, a report from Chinese travel services and social networking platform Mafengwo showed, citing its platform data.

Southwest China's Guizhou Province and eastern China's Anhui Province are expected to be popular self-driving tour destinations.

An earlier Mafengwo report showed that Chinese made 580 million self-driving trips across domestic destinations in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 35.6 percent.

The platform also expected robust trips to islands as related online searches rose 41 percent ahead of the week-long holiday in early October.

For domestic travel, Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'an are expected to be the most popular destinations, while Singapore and Thailand's Bangkok and Phuket are among the popular overseas tourism destinations, according to the report.