People in China are preparing for the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, the country's most important festival, which falls on January 28 this year.
The Spring Festival travel rush, also known as Chunyun, runs from January 13 to February 21.
A record 3 billion trips are expected to be made during this year's mass migration, the Xinhua News Agency reported on December 6, 2016.
The report added that among the total number of trips, there will be 2.52 billion road trips, 360 million train trips and 58.3 million trips by air.
"I set the alarm at 6:00 a.m. to try to get a train ticket home but have not got one yet," said a 25-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Cao from Central China's Hunan Province.
According to the Economic Information Daily, many platforms are offering paid service for Chunyun train tickets. To increase the odds of getting a ticket from South China's Guangzhou to Changsha, Hunan Province, Ctrip users have to pay an extra 1,071 yuan ($154).
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, many babysitters, couriers and food deliverers are quitting their jobs and returning to their hometown for the Spring Festival, which caused companies are temporarily offering higher salaries to meet the demand, according to the Shanghai Municipality Government's website on Wednesday.
The Spring Festival holidays runs from January 27 to February 2, and many Chinese people plan to travel during this period.
According to popular tourism website mafengwo.cn, discussions on this year's holiday travel were 62 percent higher than last year's holiday.
Residents from first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, provide the bulk of tourists, while Southwest China's Yunnan Province is the most popular domestic destination.
Thailand, Japan and the US are the Chinese tourists' top overseas destinations, according to the report.
However, a new media company in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality drew national attention after announcing it would give staff 23 days of paid leave for the Spring Festival and overseas travel after the holiday, the Chongqing Business News reported.
