Traveling into the future

Relaxed visa policies for Chinese and other reasons have steered more Chinese traveling the world to Russia.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese visits to the neighboring nation increased 200 percent last year, Ctrip reports.

This year's increase of international flights will likely trigger explosive growth from third- and fourth-tier cities, according to a recent report by Tongcheng Network Technology, a major online travel agency in Jiangsu province's Suzhou city.

China will add at least 200 international air routes in 2016, especially those linking nations involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

There are 663 international routes operated by domestic and foreign carriers, 369 of which started this year, Civil Aviation Administration of China head Li Jiaxiang says.

China had signed bilateral air transportation agreements with 118 countries by November, he says.

The ambitious plan is expected to benefit about 4.4 billion people in 65 nations, the government says.

Chinese will discover more off-the-beaten-track destinations this year, a recent TripAdvisor report suggests.