Tiring of a selfie in Delphi or a photo in Kyoto, more Chinese tourists are snapping up professional packages to capture their travels for posterity.

When you walk around the streets of Kyoto, it's not uncommon to bump into female tourists dressed up in traditional kimonos－in fact, it's fast becoming part of the scenery there.

Last autumn, Cui Xun and her friend traveled to the historical Japanese city and promptly followed suit. Using an ancient temple as a backdrop, the pair paid a local Chinese photographer 1,800 yuan ($256) to take photos of them for two hours.

"With the temple's quaint, old charm, these pretty photos make great mementos of our trip," says Cui, an office worker from Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

She says they found it worthwhile to hire a photographer for their trip because of the convenience it offered－it let them concentrate on their surroundings rather than have the bother of taking photos of each other. More importantly, they ended up with good-quality photos that had been retouched as part of the service.

"For me, travel is not about gaining a shallow understanding of a place by making cursory observations. Rather, it's about engaging in local experiences－whether it's a cooking class, a soccer match or a concert," she says.

A growing number of Chinese tourists, including honeymooners, share Cui's outlook. They are more willing to spend extra money on photo shoots when they travel abroad, rather than having to rely on selfies or snaps shot by their travel companions.

Chinese travel agencies have been quick to respond to this growing trend by offering a wider range of photo-related packages to the market.

They cooperate with photographers based in tourism spots around the world, who take tourists and newlyweds to must-see locations for photo shoots.

Online travel agency Fliggy reports it has seen a 240 percent annual rise in turnover in its photo-tourism products in 2018. This year, a 310 percent rise is expected.

In 2018, the number of photo-tourism packages female customers bought through Fliggy increased by a factor of five compared with 2017. The general rule appears to be the younger the customer, the greater the demand.

Fliggy's report about female travel consumption in 2018 shows the number of female travelers far outnumbered their male counterparts, both in terms of group tours and independent trips. Compared with other groups, women aged 29 to 34 had the highest consumption expenditure when it comes to travel. And women from Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou spent the most on their travel itineraries.

"A local photographer will know the best place to take a good photo when people are short of time. And, of course, a photographer's shots will be much better than an amateur's, like my husband. You can choose a studio based on the style that suits you best," says He Ruchao, 34, an office worker from Shanghai.

According to her, many high-end guesthouses around China already offer photography services and props, such as glass-bottomed boats, to help guests share their holiday experiences online.

People often mimic shots popularized on Instagram, such as a breakfast tray floating in a swimming pool.

Documentary approach

Du Yumeng, 29, visited the United Kingdom with her fiance during the National Day holiday in 2017, a month before their wedding.

They paid a local Chinese photographer for a one-day photo-shoot tour of four locations in London, including Hyde Park and Notting Hill. They brought three sets of costumes and hired their own makeup artist. The photographer shot candid photos as the couple strolled or chatted.

"In these street shots, my husband and I were making a lot of eye contact, and the photographer captured our emotions and expressions," she says.

"The photographer didn't teach us posing techniques and sometimes asked us to look back at him for certain shots. We just acted normally, and visited little shops as ordinary tourists do."

It's an unwritten rule that domestic photographers tend to beautify their subjects by retouching the images to remove skin blemishes or make them appear slimmer.

But the UK-based photographer only retouched the colors in the photos and didn't attempt to enhance the look of his subjects. This "documentary" approach appealed to the couple.

The couple had already shot their wedding photos in Beijing, and they had all been painstakingly retouched and enhanced.

"I don't really like the process of taking wedding photos. It's more like an assembly line of staged photography," she says.

"Instead of shooting on location, heavily made-up couples line up in a studio to have their photos taken in front of different backdrops, adopting the exact same poses as each other according to the instructions from the photographer."

In 2014, photographer Wang Zhen founded the Zaiye Studio in Beidaihe in Qinhuangdao city, Hebei province－a popular getaway among Beijingers. Just a year later, Beidaihe became an online hit thanks to two new seaside landmarks.

Netizens dubbed Sanlian Public Library near Beidaihe's beach resort "the loneliest library in the world". The stark, white form of the nearby Aranya Church, China's first seafront chapel, looks like a ship from a distance due to the 30-meter-long path that leads up to its staircase, which resembles a pier, and its steeply pitched roof.

"Newcomers share their beautiful photos on social media and, in turn, attract more tourists to come and enjoy the 'lonely' style," Wang says.

Wang's studio attracts couples and families who visit Beidaihe on vacation. Wang chats with them to make them feel relaxed and clicks the shutter as they are interacting with one another.

"To take candid photos is much more challenging for a photographer than shooting staged images. When the subjects look at their photos years later, they recall the very moment when the photo was taken," he says.

Keeping it real

Photographer Qian Pin, a postgraduate of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, founded Ce Studio in Milan in 2015.

Most of the studio's travel-photo customers are Chinese－70 percent of them visit from China, while the rest are Chinese people who have settled down overseas. They often visit Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence, Paris and Barcelona for photo tourism.

Qian also takes photos for celebrities and fashion shows, and integrates many of the techniques she uses in fashion photography into the shots she takes for tourists.

She often talks with her newlywed customers in advance to learn the story of how they met and understand their expectations for the shoot to help her choose a suitable style and location.

"Each story is different, ranging from long-distance relationships to childhood playmates, and it's always love that leads them to marriage. To witness their happiness also gives me a kind of spiritual power. It also makes me think my work is meaningful," she says.

The shoots last a day and cost around 20,000 yuan. To take realistic photos, they take subjects to museums and stylish coffeehouses, and ask them to run across a square or feed pigeons.

"The locals send their blessings when they see you're taking wedding photos. The newlyweds gradually become immersed in the relaxed atmosphere and enjoy the shoot," she says.

"I try and make them live as a local, so that they can have fun during the shoot. Combining this with candid photography and typical European scenery enables these photos to tell a story."

She has noticed that over the past two years, more Chinese newlyweds are looking to hold private wedding ceremonies in churches or castles with their parents in attendance. Her studio can also organize these events and take photos for them.

Many couples who have moved to settle down in one of China's major cities often come from different parts of the country. If they are planning to get married, they routinely have to travel to each other's hometowns to hold two different wedding ceremonies and feasts.

"Instead of following these complicated rituals, many people now prefer to take their parents on a tour of Europe and enjoy a cozy and intimate wedding at the same time," Qian says.

Legal loopholes

Qin Bole, 41, operations director of Tourism and Photography magazine, recalls that two or three decades ago, Chinese people would often have their photos taken in a studio set against the backdrops of overseas landmarks. Nowadays, it's common for young people to travel abroad and take photos with their digital cameras or smartphones.

"In the mobile-internet era, young people like to share their lifestyles and happiness through their photos online. Some want to have highquality images taken by professionals to mark their journeys," he says.

Over the years, Qin says, the photo-tourism industry has diversified to cater the wide range of tastes and requirements of the market, and customized services are gaining in popularity.

However, when a Chinese photographer travels overseas with their customers for a photo shoot, the situation can be quite different.

In January, there were reports that a Chinese couple and a photographer were arrested in Chiang Mai, Thailand, because the three held tourism visas－and the photographer had been paid to take photos.

Yang Zhenzhong, a lawyer from Beijing's Jingsh Law Firm, says that if a Chinese photographer applies for a short-term visa, whether a tourism visa or any other type, traveling abroad for work may be illegal in some countries due to restrictions on foreigners undertaking temporary work without paying local income taxes.

For countries with these laws, Yang says Chinese tourists should always look for a locally registered studio to capture their travels abroad.