it's 6:00 a.m. at shanghai's international airport and the morning rush hour has already started. this is a tour group preparing to from overseas.

in 2015 alone, roughly 120 million people traveled from mainland china. >> luxury cruise ships, carrying around 5,000 passengers leave for japan, south korea and other designations around the world. in 2015, chinese travelers spent a total of $194 billion overseas, ranking them the highest spending tourists in the world for the

year. spring tour is one of china's largest travel agencies. with 4,000 branches nationwide. it has enjoyed surging sales, am am amid china's travel but it's not easy for people from mainland china to obtain tourist

so what is behind this passion for traveling abroad? the various motivations of chinese tourists, reveal much about modern china. in this episode of asia insight, we follow a day in the business of shanghai's most popular travel agency. in the cold of january, preparations are underway for the chinese new year this is shanghai's most popular shopping district. and this is a branch of spring

tour. a staff meeting before the shop opens. sales strategies being discussed, because the chinese new year holiday is one of the most profitable seasons of the year. it's 9:00 a.m., and the doors open for this customer looks as if he has been waiting for the shop to

open. and here is the next customer. this man runs a construction materials company.

but times are hard due to a slow down in the real estate industry.

in 1997, china lifted the ban on overseas group trips, but this family did not have the time or money to go on holiday, until they the trip to the united states will cost $15,000 for four people. but sight seeing is not their only

a buzz phrase in china at the moment is to embark on a lung washing tour, to escape the heavily polluted air of metropolitan and it's not just senior citizens who are traveling.

althou although china has abolished, they prefer to have the time to travel abroad. as the morning draws on, the customers increase. although group tours are very popular, more and more people are seeking non-packaged, individual

many countries require chinese tourists to obtain entry visas to prevent them from working illegally or overstaying. these are the visa requirements for an individual trip to japan. applicants need an annual income of $15,000 u.s. or more, in addition, tourists must submit their marriage licenses, certificates of employment, certificates of real estate registration and many other documents. the conditions are much stricter for individual travel than for group tours. customer passports and documents are sent to the travel agencies

inspection division by occcouri. the inspection of the documents is meticulous before being submitted to a consulate. travel agencies impose their own rules on visa applicants in addition to those of the consulates. only last year, a chinese tourist committed a crime in japan, and then over stayed his visa. as a result, his travel agent

was temporarily banned from japan. this is spring tour's visa inspection division. the staff here run background checks on customer credibility by calling their workplace or researching family records. travelers with bad credit records will be charged a higher deposit. before chinese tourists can embark on an overseas trip, they must if through an onerous process to prove their

credibility. the busiest time of the day for the travel agency is between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. the afternoon shift comes on, and a total of 14 workers quickly and accurately determine the needs of each client, such as their bunch et adget and sch and suggest suitable travel packages. this full-time mother and her

freshman year son are going on their first cruise. at shanghai international cruise terminal, china's largest port, many luxury cruise ships accommodating up to 5,000 passengers leave for destinations around the world. the most popular tours are to japan and south korea. although the time spent on land is limited to under 12 hours, the visa requirements on cruises have been lifted recently, and this has boecome the easiest wa to enjoy overseas

cruises offer another appeal. unlike airplanes, there are no weight limits, and tourists can shop until their heart is content. japan and south korea are popular destinations, and they hope to boost their economies, thanks to the voracious consumption of tourists.

inside the busy store, this girl is taking this 19-year-old only child is excited about her long awaited first family trip. meanwhile, an elderly woman stares longingly at a

in the shadow of china's economic development, the tradition of children caring for their parents is changing. this mother has a ninth grade son.

this couple from rural china is going on their first overseas trip during the chinese new

year.

up until now, they have always returned to their hometown to pe spend the chinese new year with their family, but this year, they didn't have the heart to go. the reason for this mother and son traveling abroad, goes beyond

many parents hope their children will work overseas so they can

go live with them. the father says he works long hours in finance, and can only spend an hour a day with his

daughter. every year, this father earns more, but has less free time. he hopes to expand his daughter's horizons by traveling abroad with her.

sales for the previous day amounted to $68,000. it is the branch manager's goal to exceed this after 8:00 p.m., the number of customers decline.

but this couple has been consulting on a trip to south do korea for a long time. they are the last customers of the day. shanghai's busiest travel agency closes its doors at 10:00 p.m. behind each customer's visit, lies a story that reflects changes in chinese society.

"newsline," it is thursday, april 7th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the search is ramping up for an air self-defense force jet that went miss anything southwestern japan. the aircraft carrying six members lost, defense ministry officials say the plane dropped off the radar about 80 minutes after it took off from a base in con con. >> translator: we will continue to do everything we can to find the aircraft and the six people on board. >> on thursda