Outbound tour group passes through customs. [Photo: Xinhua]

The China National Tourism Administration forecasts that over 6 million Chinese people will celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival overseas.

The authority described the week-long national holiday as the "global Golden Week" in guidance on tourism it issued for the Chinese New Year.

At the same time, a report by Ctrip, a leading Chinese online travel platform, said that Chinese tourists going overseas will spend 100 billion yuan (USD 14.6 billion) in total.

Ctrip also sees great growth potential in China's outbound tourism with simpler visa procedures and more flights available.

For four years in a row, China has been the largest consumption country for overseas tourism and is the largest source of overseas tourists.

According to Ctrip, the top ten most popular overseas destinations for Chinese during the coming Spring Festival are Thailand, Japan, USA, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.