(Yicai Global) June 2 -- Chinese parents spent more on their kids on and around this year’s Children's Day holiday, which was yesterday, including bigger outlays on travel and outdoor sports as well as trips to theme parks.

These days young parents prefer travel destinations with a lot of tourism resources and good transportation, restaurants, and services, according to data from Alibaba Group Holding-backed travel platform Fliggy. Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou were the top-ranked cities based on family room bookings at high-end hotels.

Among theme parks, tickets for Shanghai Disney Resort, Universal Studios Beijing, and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai were the most in demand around Children's Day, which is not a public holiday, according to data from Chinese online travel platform Ctrip. Family tours to rural areas also grew in popularity.

Products for outdoor activities were also a popular gift. Sales of sun protection clothing, sports shoes, and bicycles on the Children's Day channel of e-commerce platform Vipshop.com jumped significantly yesterday from a year ago, benefiting Chinese sports brands such as Anta and Fila.

Nearly 300 million kids in China are aged under 14, more than a third live in urban areas, and a quarter of family income goes on them, according to one research report. In five major cities -- Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chengdu -- nearly CNY4 billion (USD563.8 million) is spent on kids every month, with a future market potential of about CNY2 trillion (USD281.9 billion), it said.

Editor: Martin Kadiev