Travel agents in Guangdong Province will be busy over the Spring Festival break, starting on Sunday.

Millions of locals have already signed up for sightseeing tours with local travel agents during the week-long holiday, shelling out millions of yuan for their trips.

Overseas tours have seen a surge in popularity this year, spurred by the continued appreciation of the renminbi.

Local travel agents reported all overseas tour packages introduced for the Lunar New Year holiday were fully booked.

The number of Guangdong residents set to travel abroad next week has reportedly increased at least 40 percent compared to the same period last year.

The number of locals traveling to the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions is expected to rise 60 percent in the first seven days of the Lunar New Year.

Prices have gone up in tandem with demand overseas tour packages have increased by 10 to 30 percent.

Liang Kengqiang, a senior executive from the Guangdong branch of the China Travel Service, said many Cantonese are looking forward to overseas trips. In addition to Hong Kong and Macao, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia are the hot destinations for Guangdong residents.

"The number of people who will travel to Australia, New Zealand and Europe has also increased this year," Liang said.

He believed the appreciation of the renminbi was one of the major factors behind the sharp growth of the province's overseas tourism this year.

Liang also said Guangdong people were likely to spend more during their overseas trips this year.

Chen Junhua, a local white-collar worker, plans to spend more than 10,000 yuan during his three-day trip to Hong Kong.

Chen will leave for Hong Kong on Sunday with his wife and 8-year-old son. He said he would spend money on hotel accommodation and entrance tickets to Disneyland, and will shop for brand-name clothes, cosmetics and other items.

Editor: Yan