Citizens and tourists view a dragon boat parade at Lychee river in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, June 9, 2016. Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on June 9 this year. [Photo: Xinhua/Liang Xu]

There was a big spike in tourist numbers over the three-day Dragon Boat Festival, the largest peak so far this year.

According to the latest data, 80 percent of travelers made short trips with theme parks proving to be highly popular.

Lvmama.com, a well-known domestic tourism website reported a quadrupling of traveler numbers, with the number of inbound travelers doubling from last year, and a threefold increase in outbound traveler numbers year on year.

A report from the tourism website Ctrip.com shows two-day short trips around cities have become most popular, favored by some 64 percent of tourists using the site.

"Travelers from the big cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou show a preference for short-trips around the cities. Those from second-tier cities which are rich in tourism resources are also a major driver for tourism growth," said Yao Haichuan, CEO of the short-trip business division with Ctrip.com.

Yao predicts that short trips will become even more popular, and the number of tourists will increase by the end of this year with the development of tourism products and travel policy support.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival coincided with the end College entrance exams in China, which means young people were a major factor in creating the tourism boom.

According to a survey carried out by the China Railway Co., 11.3 million train trips were made on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival, a 15 percent increase from last year.

The most popular routes were concentrated in the southwest regions of China.