‘ Bleakest’ festival travel rush
▶ Those insisting on going home assured of safety
On Thursday, the first day of China’s yearly Spring Festival travel rush, which is usually the world’s largest human migration, 551 flights carrying 37,600 passengers are scheduled to depart from or land at Beijing Capital International Airport, representing only 13.7 percent of the first day of the travel rush in the previous year.
On the first day of last year’s Spring Festival travel rush – January 10, 2020 – the number of passengers travelling through the airport was 273,600. The airport is expected to see a total of about 22,000 flights with 1.93 million passengers during the travel rush this year, a 60 percent decrease in passenger numbers and 40 percent decrease in flights compared to the same period in 2020, media reported.
The scenes at Beijing’s airports are a reflection of how China is cautiously conducting and guaranteeing population mobility amid the epidemic for what some said the “bleakest Spring Festival travel rush,” with similar scenes witnessed across the country.
On Thursday, the Chinese Ministry of Transport said that China’s 2021 Spring Festival travel rush is estimated to see around 1.152 billion trips, around 60 percent lower than that of 2019. Governments at all levels have recently been encouraging people to stay where they work instead of going back to their hometowns for the holiday, which may have led to the sharp decline of trips during the eight days from January 20 to 28.
But many Chinese will still go back home for a family reunion despite the difficulties and infection risks. A woman working in Beijing surnamed Wang told the Global Times that since she spent the last Spring Festival abroad on her own, she would do anything to get home this year. Wang’s hometown is Changchun, Northeast China’s Jilin Province, which is also experiencing a COVID- 19 outbreak. She bought a train ticket on February 9. “The situation has been put under control in both Changchun and Beijing. There is nothing to stop me from going home,” Wang said.
Railway stations and airports are also enhancing measures to curb infections. Beijing West Railway Station has arranged a series of epidemic prevention and disinfection measures, including setting up a total of 37 infrared thermometers at the entrance and exit of the station where passengers must have their temperatures checked, setting up a “one meter line” in crowded areas to remind passengers to keep a safe distance, and strengthening inspection, maintenance and disinfection of the venues’ air- conditioning to ensure good ventilation.
The volume of arrivals in Beijing West Railway Station is expected to reach its Spring Festival holiday peak between February 16 and 18, with a daily average of 70,000 passengers. The travel rush period of arrivals will last from February 27 to March 2, with a daily average of around 50,000 passengers, Global Times learned from the station.