Ge Yue, a 26-year-old camp product designer in Beijing, has traveled alone in China and around the world, in addition to traveling with family and friends. She said traveling alone allows her more flexibility with her time and she can visit any place she likes. Last month, she joined a 72-hour nonstop Christian worship event in the United Kingdom.

"There are so many fresh elements when traveling alone and it often gives me surprises. I can make new friends. I like the challenges of social networking and I have to face the challenge when I'm alone," she said.

"I would also have the opportunity to drink a cup of coffee and think. If I travel alone, I will make good preparations and have some emergency measures in my mind in case of unexpected mishaps."

Qixi Festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, saw the number of singles who chose to travel alone surge by nearly 50 percent over last year, Ctrip found.

Singles who work and live in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, with higher spending power and a desire to wear their personality on their sleeve, prefer to travel alone more.

Domestically, singles prefer to travel to large cities, and couples prefer to tour the scenic spots like mountains and lakes. Metropolises like Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Guangzhou and Hangzhou top the list of travel destinations for singles, while the top tourism resorts for couples are Kunming, Lijiang and Sanya.

For overseas destinations, singles prefer to go to nearby Asian countries with convenient direct flights. Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam top the list, Ctrip found.

Although traveling alone appears to bring more freedom, it also increases economic pressure, as one needs to be restrained when it comes to hotel fares, transportation and meals. Else, costs could shoot up by 10 to 20 percent compared to traveling with more people, industry players observed. Some single travelers may choose to stay at hostels or rely on carpools to cut their spending.

Travelers born in the 1980s and 1990s are the single biggest subgroup among single travelers, accounting for 30 percent of the total. The elderly group aged 60 and above is also willing to travel alone, according to Ctrip findings.

In January, a septuagenarian surnamed Zhang, a resident of Beijing, joined a group of 20 travelers on a trip to Spain and Portugal.

"My wife passed away a few years ago. The void created by her demise would distract me. Travels, I find, make me feel better. Going out is better than staying at home. Traveling with a group is quite easy, and I don't need to worry about the accommodation and transportation. I can take good care of myself," he said.

zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn