With Staggering Ticket Sales, 9 Billion Trips Expected for Chinese New Year ...

BEIJING, January 31 (TMTPOST)— About nine billion trips are expected to be made across China during the 40-day 2024 Spring Festival travel rush that started last Friday based on massive train ticket pre-sales, according to official data.

The figure represented a rise of 14.8% from that during the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush and a 17.5% surge from the same holidays in 2023. The Spring Festival, known as the Chinese Lunar New Year, is China’s most important festival for family reunions and celebrations that usually falls in late January and early February. This year’s Chinese New Year Day falls on February 9.

Meanwhile, from January 12 to January 26, a total of 91.82 million train tickets for the Spring Festival holidays were bought mainly by people eager to return to their hometown from the city of their work, representing a remarkable 131% increase from the same pre-sale period last year. About 20.9 million train tickets were sold across the nation’s railway system last Thursday, averaging 240 tickets sold per second, hitting a new record high.

9 Billion Trips Anticipated in 40 Days, Airfares Surge by 12% From 2019

Data from the Ministry of Transport indicate that during the 2024 Spring Festival travel rush, the number of passengers sent by railway, highway, waterway, and airway is expected to reach 480 million, 1.23 billion, 30 million, and 78 million, respectively, showing 118%, 56%, 72%, and 106% of the levels seen during the corresponding period in 2019.

The surging demand for travel has led to a sharp increase in airfare. Data from online travel agency platforms shows that during the Spring Festival travel rush, the search index for domestic flights has increased by over 170%, and the average airfare has climbed by more than 15%.

The popularity of ice and snow tourism in Harbin has driven airfare on routes from Shanghai/Hangzhou in southeastern China to Harbin in northeastern China to increase by more than 300 yuan compared to 2019.

Peak Exodus for Migrant Workers, Outflows from First-tier Cities Recovers to 2019 Levels

During the first week of the Spring Festival travel rush, the passengers were mainly migrant workers returning home for family reunion. The flow direction was from China’s eastern and central cities to the central and western regions. Primarily, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen were the departing cities, while provinces such as Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, and Shaanxi were the key destinations, according to data from a travel platform LY.com.

During the first three days of the 2024 Spring Festival travel rush, the outflow of people from four megacities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen recovered to the levels of the corresponding period in 2019.