China's national holiday, fewer visitors to Japan expected

Thursday marks the start of China's week-long holiday to celebrate the country's National Day. It's a period when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel, but the number visiting Japan is expected to decline due to worsening bilateral relations.

A railway station in the southern city of Guangzhou was already crowded on Wednesday. People appeared to have taken a day off ahead of the official start of the holiday week. Many were heading back to their hometowns.

The Chinese government estimates that people will make 2.13 billion journeys during the holiday period.

"I'm heading to my parents' home to spend time with them because it's a long holiday," one man at the station said.

China's major travel agency says popular destinations during this period are South Korea, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Japan was previously highly popular with Chinese tourists, but is not included in the top list this year.

Chinese airlines have suspended services on several routes to Japan amid the souring relations between the two countries.

And there were no exhibitors from Japan this year at an annual international travel fair held in Guangzhou around this time.