A family spends their post-holiday vacation on the beach in Sanya on Hainan Island, the most popular domestic destination after the Spring Festival holiday.  [Photo provided to China Daily]

Spring Festival is officially a Golden Week. But more Chinese than ever are discovering the silver lining to traveling after the holiday.

Shrewd tourists are using their paid vacation time following the seven-day holiday to enjoy lower prices for quality experiences.

China's biggest online travel agency, Ctrip, reports this year marks the briskest post-holiday travel to date.

Bookings to many tourism hot spots, such as Hainan's Sanya, Zhejiang province's Hangzhou, and Vietnam, Indonesia and Europe, increased more than 40 percent compared with last year, the company's report shows.

Flight and hotel costs have plunged across the board following the festival that ended on Feb 2.

Young people with paid vacation and retirees drive the phenomenon.