(Yicai) June 19 -- Bookings for summer trips to European countries from China have soared, particularly thanks to the Union of European Football Associations’ European Soccer Championship in Germany in June and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics in France in July.

In the first two weeks of June, the demand for flight bookings from major Chinese cities to Paris in July surged over 70 percent from a year earlier, and that for hotel bookings in the French capital city jumped 150 percent, according to data from Chinese online travel agency Tongcheng Travel.

Summer is a traditional peak season for domestic and outbound tourism in China. Inquiries about summer holiday trips over the past week exceeded the level in the same period of 2019 by 15 percent, according to online travel agency Trip.Com.

With the boost from the Paris Olympics and UEFA Euro 2024, orders for private car charter tours in France surged over 52 percent this year from a year earlier, with many tours also including destinations in neighboring countries, such as Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Italy, data from Trip.Com also showed.

Hotel bookings in Italy until the end of July have increased three-fold compared to the same period last year, while those in France, Spain, and the UK more than doubled, according to Qunar.Com. From July, prices of flights to and hotels in Europe are expected to jump by up to 40 percent, the online travel site predicted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione