Thailand tops the outbound travel destinations after the Golden Week holiday.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Prices for hotels in tourism hot spots, including Sanya, Fujian province's Xiamen and Yunnan province's Lijiang, are generally a third less from mid- to late February, compared with the holiday season.

The cost of flights to Thailand and Japan dropped 40 percent following Spring Festival, says Li Mengran, publicity officer of Beijing-based outbound-travel operator Utour International Travel Service Co.

Utour reports a roughly 10 percent annual growth in the number of people who traveled after the holiday.

"We found Chinese tourists are increasingly adept at choosing times for bargain travel," Li says.

Workers who use their paid vacation favor relatively nearby overseas getaways, such as Thailand, Japan and South Korea. Retirees are prone to such long-haul destinations as the United States and Europe, Li says.

A five-day Thailand trip cost about 10,000 yuan ($1,500) during the festival. The price now is half that.

"The low season (of Chinese travel to Thailand) may last until May," Li says.

Meng Wei used his paid vacation to take his mother on a seven-day trip to Taiwan starting on Feb 6.

"I saw the price was almost 40 percent off if I traveled after the festival," the Beijing resident says.

"And I knew tourism attractions would be much less crowded."