FOCUS | China's Spring Festival travel surge starts with record trips expected
Source: Xinhua
Editor: huaxia
2026-02-02 22:06:15
Passengers are seen at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- China ushered in its largest annual population migration on Monday, 15 days ahead of the 2026 Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year.
A total of 9.5 billion passenger trips are expected during this year's travel rush period that will end on March 13, which will be a historic high.
An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 1, 2026 shows high-speed trains at a train depot in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)
Of this total, road trips remain the dominant mode of travel, accounting for approximately 80 percent.
An estimated 540 million passenger trips will be handled by the country's railways, while the civil aviation sector will see 95 million trips. Both the overall scale and daily peak traffic of rail and air travel are expected to surpass historic high levels this year.
In China, the 40-day travel surge will witness hundreds of millions of people return to their hometowns for family reunions.
Passengers wave goodbye aboard a train at Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 1, 2026. (Xinhua/Wu Lu)Passengers are seen at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Li He)
A high-speed train runs in downtown Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jinhai)A boy boards a train at Nanjing Railway Station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Photo by Su Yang/Xinhua)Passengers get off a train at Suining Railway Station in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Photo by Liu Changsong/Xinhua)A woman takes care of an infant on a train at Shenzhen North Railway Station in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)Passengers are pictured at the departure hall of Xi'an Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)A woman interacts with a child aboard a train at Kunshan South Railway Station in Kunshan City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Photo by Wang Xuzhong/Xinhua)Passengers wave goodbye to their relative at Shenzhen North Railway Station in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)Passengers get their tickets checked at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)Passengers are pictured at a platform of Harbin Railway Station in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Photo by Yuan Yong/Xinhua)A staff member checks tickets for passengers at Lanzhou Railway Station in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Feb. 2, 2026. (Photo by Hou Chonghui/Xinhua)■
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