On a busy street in Seoul, Li Huan tapped a few instructions into an application on her cellphone and quickly figured out the best way to get to a nearby restaurant that had been recommended by other tourists.

"I can get all the information I need from different travel apps. I don't have to bring several maps anymore and I can even use translation apps to communicate with the locals," says Li, 27, an office worker from Liuzhou, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. She is enjoying her trip to South Korea.

Like many individual Chinese travelers, Li uses apps to book air tickets and hotels before her trips and to get travel tips and public transportation information during her journeys.