China sees rising holiday rail traffic

BEIJING -- China's railway traffic during the International Labor Day holiday rose 6.7 percent year on year, indicating growing enthusiasm for travel among Chinese.

About 49 million passenger trips were made via railway from April 28 to May 1, up 3.09 million from last year, according to the China Railway Corporation.

Traffic peaked on April 29, when about 13.7 million trips were made in a single day, up 5.8 percent year on year while hitting a record high for the International Labor Day holiday.

To accommodate the holiday rush, China Railway Corporation added a total of 1,901 train trips nationwide.

Railway traffic has been rising steadily during China's holidays as interest in travel has increased in the past few years. The country's tourism industry raked in 79.1 billion yuan ($11.5 billion) in revenue during the holiday, up 16.2 percent from a year earlier, official data showed.