WITH just two weeks to go until the weeklong May Day holiday, residents planning to join tour groups to Southeast Asia need to register as soon as possible, according to Shenzhen travel agencies.

"Southeast Asian countries seem to be most favored by local holidaymakers," Li Dangsheng, a manager with Shenzhen Comfort, a travel agency, was quoted as saying in the Daily Sunshine on Saturday (Apr 15).

Southeast Asia has become more popular because of shorter distances, lower prices and more varieties of itineraries, he said.

In contrast, trips to Europe found few takers for the coming May Day holidays, with registration down by at least 20 percent, Li said.

Ma Jie with Shenzhen Port Travel Service Co. Ltd. said that although group tours to Europe were on average 1,000 yuan (US$123) cheaper than during the Spring Festival, the number of tourists going to European countries dropped 50 percent from the last weeklong holiday.

Han Cheng with Shenzhen International Travel Service said so far his agency had seen 20 percent less business compared to the Spring Festival.

The Daily Sunshine said travel agencies had stopped taking bookings for tours to Europe and Australia.

A survey by ctrip.com, China's largest online travel Web site, said more than 56.9 percent of 19,000 people polled said they would travel during the May Day holidays, while 7 percent said they would not.

Most travel agencies say the May Day week is the most sluggish of the year's three weeklong holidays.

Editor: Wing