Spring Festival trips post yearly increase

Although the number of passenger trips during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday remained low, it was up from the same period last year, data from the Ministry of Transport showed on Feb 7.

During the holiday, which ended on Feb 6, the national transportation network handled an estimated 130 million passenger trips, a yearon-year increase of 31.7 percent but down 69.2 percent compared with 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The figure included 30.3 million train trips, 91.27 million road trips, 3.05 million trips over water and 5 million plane trips, the ministry said.

Beijing Capital International Airport handled 230,000 passenger trips over the holiday, a year-on-year increase of 4.6 percent.

Due to pandemic control protocols, people were encouraged to travel less, and many chose safer means to travel, such as driving.

MA MINGYAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE People stage a dragon dance performance during a Spring Festival celebration in Guide county, Qinghai province, on Feb 8. Teams from around the county performed at the event.