Prices for domestic tours during the Spring Festival are expected to be 15 percent lower than last year's holiday period, quotations from major travel agencies in Guangzhou indicated.

The main reason for the price cut is a drop in airfares and hotel charges in tourist destinations for group travelers, which have fallen by more than 10 percent.

The cost of a 5-day luxury tour to Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou and Monigou in Sichuan Province offered by the Guangzhilu International Travel Service Ltd. is about 700 yuan (US$84) lower than for the same period last year. A 6-day tour to Yunnan is 1,980 yuan, also the lowest compared with previous Spring Festival holidays. The prices of tours to the Northeast China is about the same as previous years.

Intense competition in Guangzhou air travel pulled fares back by about 10 percent. A wider choice of domestic and international tours also forced accommodation charges down.

Meanwhile, the cost of tours to Shanghai and Xiamen will remain unchanged.

Editor: Catherine