Angkor Wat in Cambodia (above), Lijiang in Yunnan province and Japan are among the top destinations for Chinese tourists traveling after the Spring Festival peak. [Photo provided to China Daily]

He paid 13,000 yuan in total for both of them, compared with 20,000 yuan if they'd made the journey during the peak period.

A total of 6.15 million people traveled outside the Chinese mainland during the holiday, up 7 percent over the same period of last year, the China National Tourism Administration reports.

They spent 423.3 billion yuan, a nearly 16 percent year-on-year increase.

"Outbound travel after the holiday is cheaper yet quality isn't compromised," Beijing-based China Youth Travel Service Co spokesman Xu Xiaolei says.

Roughly 90 percent of February trips to Japan, South Korea, Europe, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia had been booked by Feb 8, the agency reports.

Some sold out.

Most trips to Japan and South Korea are now 30 percent cheaper on Aoyou.com, an online-booking website under China Youth Travel Service. Southeast Asia packages are roughly half price.

Those to the US, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand average about 20 percent off.