Tour agencies in the five cities estimated that the number of local travelers to visit Hong Kong would increase by 20 to 30 percent during Spring Festival, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

However, as for whether the RMB's surge will lead to fewer Hong Kong travelers' visiting the mainland, there seems to be no consensus.

Xinhua quoted unidentified "insiders" as saying that some Hong Kong travelers may choose to travel to Thailand or Vietnam over the mainland because of the RMB's value.

But Zhang Qianying, manager of the Hong Kong market under the inbound tourism department with China Travel Service (HK) Ltd, said figures have not supported the worry.

"The RMB's growth margin is rather limited, and the change is not happening all of a sudden," Zhang said.

She refused to make long-term estimates.

In another development, the prices of overseas tours have increased for Chinese travelers this Spring Festival.

Prices of tours to countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia have become almost doubled during the traditional Chinese holiday, according to several travel agencies in Beijing.

China Comfort Travel's tour package to Thailand, which usually costs 3,280 yuan ($422) and cost more than 5,000 yuan ($643) during last year's Spring Festival, has soared to 6,180 yuan ($795) for this Spring Festival.

Prices of tours to Australia and New Zealand have also increased by at least 50 percent, mostly because air-ticket prices keep increasing.

Even so, tourists' enthusiasm has not waned. The Beijing Evening News reported on Tuesday that more than half of the quota of bookings to destinations in Southeast Asia has been met.

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