Countries along Belt and Road have become popular destinations for Chinese tourists, according to a report issued by Lvmama.com, a Chinese online travel agency.

The report, based on bookings made on the Lvmama website, showed that the number of Chinese tourists visiting ASEAN countries in 2016 rose to nearly three times that of 2015.

The number of Chinese people visiting Central and Eastern Europe saw a year-on-year increase of 229 percent in 2016.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia saw rapid growth in the number of Chinese tourists last year.

In the first four months this year, the number of visitors who traveled to Russia was nearly twice that of the same period last year.

Some 150 million Chinese travelers are expected to visit countries along the Belt and Road from 2016 to 2020, with their spending likely to top $200 billion, according to China National Tourism Administration.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2017)