Chinese parents are sending their children thousands of miles away, as part of the growing trend of overseas study tours.

Xing Yi is a 10-year-old elementary school student. He just came back home from a twelve-day US study tour, which his mother believes is an eye-opening journey.

According to Xing Yi’s mother, she and her husband bring their son on trips abroad every year. This year, they instead enrolled him in a study tour, since it provides him an opportunity to join classes in a local school and experience the American culture. "I figured he would learn more things this way than by traveling with us," she said.

However, this kind of experience does not come cheap. According to Tuniu, one of the biggest travel booking websites in China, the typical price range for such a tour is between 3,000 and 4,500 US dollars. While in China, the average monthly wage is 720 US dollars, as of 2016. 

Chinese parents have a tradition of giving their children the best. Following the new trend, they are willing to pay high costs for their children to visit US and UK schools. Besides large travel agencies and public schools, many small agencies have started providing niche products in this booming market.

Sun Mingtong is the CPO of a start-up education company targeting this market. Sun introduced that unlike traditional study tours with too much sightseeing, their programs focus on high-quality courses. For example, they will invite speakers from famous universities and big companies to their classes in the US. "We received many bookings for our summer tours," Sun added.

This market is expanding. And the students taking part in the overseas summer camps are getting younger. More primary school students like Xing Yi are taking part.

Like Xing Yi’s mother, many parents have realistic expectations for their big investments in overseas study tours – they might not see dramatic results in their children. As the Chinese saying goes: “It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.” Parents like Xing Yi's mother just want to broaden their children’ horizons, and more importantly, don’t want them to lag behind their peers.