China further lowers travel forecast for peak holiday

BEIJING -- China's Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Thursday further cut its forecast of passenger flow for the 2021 Spring Festival travel season as the country has adopted strict anti-epidemic measures to curb COVID-19 spread.

The 40-day travel peak, which started Thursday, is expected to see around 1.15 billion passenger trips, marking a drop of more than 20 percent year on year and a plunge of over 60 percent from the level in 2019, MOT spokesperson Wu Chungeng told a press conference.

The ministry previously projected China to see 1.7 billion passenger trips during the period. However, it now expects the actual numbers to be lower than the current forecast.

China's Spring Festival travel season is commonly regarded as the world's largest annual human migration. People across the country usually enjoy a week-long holiday for family gatherings and celebrations of the lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 12 this year.