As Chinese tourists get richer, they're shunning group tours and striking out on their own, a leading hotel booking website said in a study released on Wednesday.

Texas-based Hotels.com said Chinese tourists' overseas expenditure jumped 40 percent last year to $102 billion. That surge took China past the United States and Germany to become the world's top outbound tourism spender.

The website said it based its figures on a report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.