May Day travel figures expected to down significantly as many people likely to stay close to home

China is expecting a significant drop in passenger trips during the upcoming May Day holiday period, according to the Ministry of Transport.

About 100 million trips are expected during the five-day holiday, which starts on Saturday, a drop of about 62 percent compared to last year, said Zhou Min, an official with the ministry, at a news conference on Thursday.

The average number of daily passenger trips will be about 20 million, with the peak on Saturday when 22.5 million passenger trips are expected, he added.

Due to the latest outbreak of COVID-19 and stringent epidemic protocols, most travelers are opting for short-distance, even local trips, Zhou added.

Trips in the Yangtze River Delta region will fall, while journeys in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Chengdu-Chongqing should increase.

Heavy traffic is expected on roads, especially at toll stations and epidemic control checkpoints.

Zhou reminded travelers to check epidemic control policies in advance.

Motorcycles and passenger cars with seven seats or less will get free passes to use toll roads, bridges and tunnels during the holiday.

Since April, China has reported 553,251 cases of COVID-19, which have occurred in every provincial level region except for the Tibet autonomous region.

Many regions, including Beijing, have encouraged residents to stay put during the holiday.

Rail trips are also expected to be sluggish.

Zhu Wenzhong from the China State Railway Group, the national railway operator, said the company will suspend or reduce train services to epidemic-affected areas and adjust routes to bypass high-risk regions.

Ticket refunds will be applied in accordance with epidemic protocols, he added.

China's civil aviation sector is also expecting a significant drop in passengers during the holiday, said Liang Nan, director of the transport department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

A total of 2 million passengers are expected over the five days, roughly 400,000 a day, a significant drop of 77 percent.