Recently, AntBee Travel and China Tourism Research Institute jointly released Rediscovering the World: Global Free Travel Report 2017, which analyzed the development trend and characteristics of China's free-travel market in 2017 and predicted the market trend in 2018, according to the report.

The report said the data showed that the number of domestic tourist trips for the whole year of 2017 is expected to reach 5 billion, up nearly 13 percent year-on-year, and the number of trips per capita will reach 3.6 times. The number of outbound trips by Chinese citizens for the year is expected to reach 128 million, nearly the size of Japan's total population. According to the report, China has fully entered the "era of fragmented tourism".

In 2017, the proportion of Chinese netizens using cell phones to access the Internet rose to 96.3 percent from 95.1 percent at the end of 2016. The report pointed out that mobile payment has changed the way free travelers travel. Taking hotel booking as an example, the proportion of free-traveling tourists booking hotels via mobile increased to 79 percent in 2017, up 26 percent from 53 percent in 2016.

The person in charge of Hornet's Nest said that information overload and the abundance of the industry have made travelers' choices more numerous and difficult. We are trying to help consumers make efficient choices with technological means, such as personalized tips and travelogues, structured big data, etc. Domestic tourists in 2017 had to browse an average of eight hotels to make a final choice, and it is even more important to plan a month in advance and browse as many as 20 for outbound trips.

It is hoped that mobile payments can be more widely used!