Travel surge caps end of Spring Festival holiday

China is experiencing a major post-holiday travel surge following the conclusion of the weeklong Spring Festival holiday on Tuesday, with transportation authorities implementing extensive measures to ensure a smooth journey for millions of returning travelers.

The Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun, is the world's largest annual human migration, as millions return home before the holiday and then travel back to urban centers. This puts enormous pressure on the country's transportation infrastructure.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that during the eight-day period from Jan 28 to Tuesday, more than 2.31 billion cross-regional passenger trips were made. This consisted of 96.12 million trips by rail, 2.18 billion by road, 9.35 million by water and 18.29 million by air.

On Tuesday alone, the last day of the holiday, cross-regional passenger trips were expected to hit 329.1 million. It marked the fifth consecutive day with more than 300 million people traveling, reflecting China's vibrant economic activity.

Liu Dongmei, a researcher at the Research Institute of Highway under the Ministry of Transport, said about 4.8 billion passenger trips were made during the first half of this year's Spring Festival travel rush from Jan 14 to Sunday.

"That was a 7.2 percent increase from last year," she said, adding that travel surged significantly from Jan 30 onward, with more than 300 million passengers traveling daily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all surpassing last year's figures.

The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which began on Jan 14 and runs through Feb 22, is expected to see a total of 9 billion cross-regional trips.