Passengers hold Spring Festival-themed banners on board the G6701 high-speed train from Beijing to Handan, North China's Hebei Province on February 2, 2026, the first day of the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush. Photo: Chen Tao/GT

China's official data on Sunday showed that cross-provincial passenger trips are expected to surpass 1.4 billion during the opening week of the Spring Festival travel rush, underscoring a period of robust travel activity.

On average, the daily cross-provincial passenger trips will reach 201.89 million, representing a 2-percent increase year on year, the People's Daily reported, citing data from the Ministry of Transport.

China ushered in its largest annual population migration on February 2, 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 40-day travel rush period that will end on March 13, which will set a historic high.

Specifically, in the first week, railway passenger traffic is estimated to reach 86.02 million, with a daily average of 12.29 million, up 0.2 percent year-on-year. Waterway passenger traffic is estimated at 4.89 million with a daily average of 699,000, up 14.7 percent year-on-year. Civil aviation passenger traffic is estimated at 16.32 million passengers, with a daily average of 2.33 million, up 6.1 percent year-on-year.

The first week also witnessed a slight increase of the self-driving passengers, with the road traffic expected to increase 2.1 percent year on year. 

According to Didi Chuxing data, since the start of the Spring Festival travel season, demand for out-of-town rides on the platform has increased by 23 percent compared to usual days. Demand for rides in the country's four first-tier cities is expected to increase by 21 percent year-on-year before the arrival of the Spring Festival which falls on February 17, the report said. 

Global Times