Spring Festival travel rush sees 112 mln passenger trips by Thursday: China Railway

China's railway system helped complete 112 million passenger trips since the start of chunyun - the Spring Festival travel rush, by January 14, 2025, China Railway Group Co said in a statement shared with the Global Times on Thursday.

Up to 13.32 million passenger trips were made on Wednesday, with another 13.20 million passengers expected to travel on Thursday, per the statement.

In addition, 278 million train tickets have been sold through China's train ticket booking platform 12306 as of 9 am on Thursday.

In addition to returning home and visiting family and friends, traveling is another major driver of the passenger flow. "The two purposes are anticipated to boost consumption through gift purchases and tourism-related spending," Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Zhang noted that convenient transportation will help stimulate tourism spending, such as dining, accommodation, scenic spot tickets, and cultural tourism-related consumption.

Relevant authorities have forecasted an unprecedented 9 billion passenger trips during this year's chunyun, the world's largest annual migration. This year's chunyun will end on February 22.

Cumulative cross-regional passenger trips exceeded 1 billion as of Sunday since the beginning of chunyun, China Media Group reported on Monday, citing official data.

When it comes to consumption highlights for the upcoming long holidays, Zhang noted that the implementation of the measures boosting consumption is expected to drive demand for gift purchases, adding that popular cultural tourism such as the ice and snow festivals is likely to gain momentum.