China sees over 2.3 billion inter-regional trips during Spring Festival holiday

BEIJING -- During the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended on Tuesday, more than 2.3 billion passenger trips were made across all regions in China, official data showed Wednesday.

The total included 96.26 million railway trips, 2.18 billion road trips, 9.41 million waterway trips, and 18.24 million air trips, according to data from the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., among others.

The annual Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun in China, is set to break records this year. Between Jan 14 and Feb 22, an estimated 9 billion inter-regional passenger trips are expected. Spring Festival, an occasion for family reunions, fell on Jan 29 this year.

In recent years, a notable trend during chunyun has been the surge in the use of new energy vehicles (NEVs), driven by the fast expansion of charging infrastructure and the Chinese people's growing eco-friendly awareness.

The State Grid Corporation of China has expected the charging volume for NEVs on the country's highways to reach a record high during the Spring Festival holiday.