Hong Kong is the destination of choice for most mainland travelers this Christmas, a new survey has found.

Forty-four percent of the 2,000 people polled, all of whom have an annual income of more than 60,000 yuan, said they were planning to visit the region over the festive period.

Other popular destinations included Shanghai (10 percent), Sanya in Hainan Province (9 percent), Lijiang in Yunnan Province, Bali in Indonesia, Phuket in Thailand and Harbin in Heilongjiang Province.

Conducted by the online travel firm ctrip.com, the survey found people were most interested in places with a "strong holiday atmosphere", "good shopping environment" and "excellent hotels and beaches" when choosing a destination for their Christmas getaway.

Tang Yibo, director of Ctrip.com's holiday department, said: "Embodying both Eastern and Western cultures, Hong Kong stands out because it has not only a vibrant Christmas atmosphere, but also offers lots of shopping and entertainment facilities, and big discounts at this time of year."

The convenience of traveling between the mainland and Hong Kong is also an important factor, Tang said.

Lin Kang, deputy general manager of theoutbound tourismdepartment of the China International Travel Service Head Office, said tour packages to Hong Kong are always bestsellers at Christmas.

He said the reason was that Chinese do not have much time off work at Christmas and the New Year so they cannot travel too far.

"When it comes to the week long Spring Festival holiday, destinations like Europe will be more popular," he said.

Packages for the Spring Festival are now available, he said, with some of them to Australia and New Zealand already sold out.

Some travel experts have said the high volume of holiday bookings for this year's Spring Festival is due to the cancellation of the May Day holiday.

圣诞在即，一项最新调查显示，香港成为很多内地游客“圣诞游”的首选目的地。

此次调查共有两千人参加，他们的年收入均超过6万元人民币。其中44%的调查对象称，他们打算去香港过圣诞。

其它一些热门目的地包括上海（10%）、海南的三亚（9%）、云南的丽江、印尼的巴厘岛、泰国的普吉岛和黑龙江的哈尔滨。

该项由携程旅行网（www.ctrip.com）开展的调查发现，人们在选择圣诞出游地时，更青睐“节日气氛浓厚”、“购物环境好”、“酒店舒适、有沙滩”的地方。

携程旅行网的度假部主任唐一波说：“香港之所以受到青睐，是因为香港是东西方文化的交汇地，那里不仅节日气氛浓厚、购物和娱乐设施齐全，还有很多岁末大打折活动。”

唐主任说，现在去香港更加方便也是一个重要因素。

中国国际旅行社总部出境游部的副总经理林康说，圣诞“香港游”套餐总是很火爆。

他说，这主要是因为中国人的圣诞和元旦假期较短，所以不能选择太远的出游地。

他说：“春节假期有一周的时间，所以欧洲等较远的出游地更受欢迎。”

他说，“春节游”套餐现在可以预订了，一些去澳大利亚和新西兰的度假产品现已售空。

一些业内人士称，今年春节的旅游产品预订旺盛主要是因为明年的“五一”黄金周将被取消。