Macao's landmark Ruins of St. Paul welcomes tourists on Friday while the Hong Kong international airport experienced an anti-government protest that seriously disrupted operations. (Photo: Yang Sheng/GT)

Inbound and outbound trips during this year's National Day holidays will reach 1.98 million per day, an increase of 2.7 percent compared with last year, the Chinese immigration authority predicted Sunday.

The National Immigration Administration said the country's ports will see a peak in this year's National Day holidays. Passenger flow in and out of Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport in South China's Guangdong Province and Chengdu Shuangliu Airport in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and other large airports increased significantly.

It is estimated that the average daily passenger flow will reach 79,000, 100,000, 55,000 and 21,000 trips, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 6.5 percent, 1.2 percent, 17 percent and 27.5 percent.

The passenger flow in and out of land ports adjacent to the Macao Special Administrative Region also increased significantly. It is estimated that the daily number of trips entering and leaving the port in Gongbei linking the Chinese mainland and Macao will reach 467,000, with a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

The entry-exit passenger flow adjacent to the land port in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region remains stable. It is estimated that the daily entry and exit trips of Luohu, Futian, Shenzhen bay, Huanggang and West Kowloon station will be between 44,000 and 245,000.

Data provided by Ctrip, one of China's major travel agencies, showed that 7.5 million people will travel overseas during this year's National Day holidays and nearly half of the tourists chose to go abroad independently.

The agency said the most popular destinations for individual travel are Japan, Thailand, Singapore, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, Malaysia, Vietnam, Maldives, Indonesia, the US and Australia.

Travel to Hong Kong declined this year, and travel to the island of Taiwan was also affected because of the suspension of individual travel permits and other reasons. Chinese travelers have turned their attention to Japan and Southeast Asian countries. The agency said travel to Singapore, Macao SAR and the Philippines, Vietnam has become more popular this year.

Some tourists from the Chinese mainland told the Global Times that they chose to change their plans to Macao out of safety concerns.

Data provided by Lvmama, another major online travel agency, also showed Japan and Thailand remained the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists, followed by Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, Russia, Australia, Indonesia and Spain.