Visitors admire cherry blossoms at the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, this March. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Meanwhile, traveling abroad to see spring blossoms has become trendy for Chinese, and admiring cherry blossoms in Japan tops the list. From late March to late April this year, it is expected that 600,000 Chinese visitors will go to Japan to see the cherry blossoms, and they will spend a total of 8 billion yuan, according to a Ctrip forecast.

Last year, the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland to Japan surged to 7.35 million, up 15.4 percent year-on-year, and their per capita spending was about 13,400 yuan. In the cherry blossom season of March and April, Japan received more than 500,000 visitors from the mainland each month, according to the Japan Tourism Organization.

Besides Japan, Europe and North America are also popular destinations for flower viewers, and the trips to those places in spring and summer have started to attract increasing numbers of Chinese visitors.

According to data from Ctrip, Chinese flower lovers are spreading their nets far and wide these days to satisfy their passion. Among the top draws are the tulips at Keukenhof Park in the Netherlands and the dreamy lavender in Provence in France, and the Cotswolds in the United Kingdom.

Then there are the pungent cherry blossoms in Washington DC and in Vancouver in Canada and Bonn in Germany, as well as the poppy fields of Bewdley in the UK－all of which have been drawing Chinese flower groupies in their droves, helping to push up sales at those destinations this year over the same period of last year.

With the appreciation of the yuan against the Japanese yen and US dollar, in addition to the increased available flights, the cost of experiencing the magic of flowers overseas is cheaper this year. It will set you back on average 5,700 yuan to go to Japan in March or April to see the cherry blossoms, Ctrip said.

"The prices for cherry blossom viewing in Japan fell 5 percent to 10 percent over last year," said Xiao Yinyuan, director of outbound travel at Ctrip.