China is experiencing a significant surge in post-holiday travel following the conclusion of the weeklong Spring Festival holiday on Tuesday. Transportation authorities are taking extensive measures to ensure smooth travel for millions of people heading back to urban centers after visiting family.
The Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun, is the world’s largest annual human migration. It involves millions of people returning home before the holiday and then traveling back to their work or school locations, placing immense pressure on the country’s transportation network.
According to the Ministry of Transport, more than 2.31 billion cross-regional passenger trips were made during the eight-day period from January 28 to Tuesday. This included 96.12 million rail trips, 2.18 billion by road, 9.35 million by water, and 18.29 million by air.
On the final day of the holiday, Tuesday, passenger trips were expected to reach 329.1 million. This marked the fifth consecutive day of more than 300 million people traveling, reflecting the high level of economic activity in the country.
Liu Dongmei, a researcher at the Ministry of Transport’s Research Institute of Highway, said that during the first half of this year’s Spring Festival travel rush (from January 14 to Sunday), there were approximately 4.8 billion passenger trips made. This was a 7.2% increase from the previous year.
“The travel surge really picked up from January 30 onward, with more than 300 million passengers traveling daily on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, surpassing last year’s numbers,” Liu said.
The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which began on January 14, is expected to see a total of 9 billion cross-regional trips by its conclusion on February 22.
