China’s Spring Festival travel rush, which concluded on Saturday, saw over 9 billion passenger trips, setting multiple records and highlighting the strength of the country’s transportation network during the largest annual human migration.
The 40-day travel period, which began on January 14, recorded a total of 9.02 billion passenger trips, marking a 7.1% year-on-year increase, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Among these trips, 513 million were by rail, a 6.1% increase from last year, while air travel accounted for 90.2 million trips, up 7.4%. Both rail and aviation passenger numbers reached new highs during the travel rush.
Road travel dominated with 8.39 billion trips, showing a 7.2% rise compared to last year. Of these, 7.17 billion were made by self-driving travelers. Waterway travel saw 31.21 million passenger trips, up 7.6%.
Liu Dongmei, a researcher at the Ministry of Transport’s Research Institute of Highway, noted that the growing affluence of Chinese citizens has led to diverse ways of celebrating the Spring Festival, including travel to new destinations. She added that many travelers make multiple trips during this period.
