China's Spring Festival travel rush ends with recovering transport figures

BEIJING -- The Spring Festival travel rush, which began on Jan 7 this year, ended on Wednesday, with passenger traffic continuing to recover.

During the 40-day travel rush, more than 1.5 billion trips took place by rail, highway, water, and civil aviation, official data showed.

The country's railway passenger flow continued to rebound. Statistics showed that since Feb. 1, an average of more than 9 million passenger trips were made every day, and railway passenger transport has recovered to 90 percent of the figure for the 2019 corresponding travel rush period.

Road travel, as the first choice for short and medium-distance travel, was also favored during this year's travel rush.

Data from ride-hailing company Didi showed that from Jan 7 to Feb 14, Didi's ride-hailing and taxi orders continued to increase and recovered to more than 90 percent of the number for the same period of 2019.

The civil aviation sector also received more passengers during the Spring Festival holiday. In south China's Hainan Province, the Sanya civil aviation authority reported a new high of 3,024 flights in the week-long holiday, an increase of 5.8 percent over the same holiday period in 2019.

"China's railways, roads, waterways, and civil aviation have maintained stable operation, with sufficient transport capacity, orderly services, strong emergency support, and a generally secure environment," said Zhou Min, an official with the Ministry of Transport.

This photo taken on Feb 15, 2023 shows a view of the crowded Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in East China's Shanghai.