China's Spring Festival travel rush: A snapshot of national vitality and progress

More than 9 billion inter-regional passenger trips were made across China during this year's 40-day Spring Festival travel rush that concluded on Feb. 22, 2025, with the railway and civil aviation sectors handling record numbers of 510 million and 90.2 million passenger trips, respectively, and the number of self-driving trips hitting a record high of 7.17 billion.

The large-scale annual human migration driven by family reunions and leisure travel for the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, highlights the great capacity and efficiency of modern Chinese transportation.

This year's extended eight-day Spring Festival holiday allowed for an even greater number of people to traverse the country, showcasing the advancements in China's transportation infrastructure and services.

A railway staff member helps a passenger at Shenyang Railway Station in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province. (People's Daily/Liu Hongchao)

Enhanced transport capacity

Over a decade ago, a huge number of migrant workers set out to ride home on motorcycles from the Pearl River Delta region in south China's Guangdong Province, creating a unique and iconic scene during the Spring Festival travel rush as they rode for many hours or even days along national highways to their homes in regions including south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the southwest China provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan.

The arduous homecoming journeys are less seen today, as more and more people in the country now drive their own cars to return home during the Spring Festival holiday.

During this year's Spring Festival travel rush, self-driving trips accounted for nearly 80 percent of the passenger trips made across the country, contributing to a total of 436 million vehicle trips on expressways.

Wu Zilin, a migrant worker in Guangdong, was once a member of the massive "motorcycle army". He used to endure 12-hour motorcycle rides to return home. Now, with his family car, his journey is shortened to less than six hours, while becoming safer and more comfortable.

The 2025 Spring Festival travel rush also saw the introduction of new large-scale transportation vehicles, including 16 domestically produced C919 aircraft, the upgraded Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-S high-speed trains, and the country's first domestically built large cruise ship, Adora Magic City, which hosted nearly 5,000 passengers for a Chinese New Year celebration at sea.

These vehicles added to the robust capacity and diversity of China's transport network.

During this year's Spring Festival travel rush, more than 14,000 trains operated on a daily basis, while the national civil aviation sector handled an average of 18,500 flights per day, an increase of 8.3 percent year on year.

Additionally, the daily number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) on expressways nationwide exceeded 6.5 million, marking a rise of over 60 percent compared to the same period last year.

Better travel experience

The rapid application of new-generation information technologies such as big data, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) has comprehensively improved transport efficiency and enhanced travel experience during the Spring Festival travel rush.

This year, airports in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, have collaborated with railway authorities and airlines to enhance air-rail connectivity and optimize services, enabling seamless travel experiences.

Nationwide, China's train ticket booking platform 12306 has included seven airlines in its air-rail intermodal service, covering 97 hub cities, 192 transfer stations, and 6,149 accessible routes across the country.

The transportation authorities of central China's Hubei Province have established an intelligent emergency command and dispatch system, relying on 913 intelligent cameras, along with over 90 intelligent inspection vehicles and drones, to monitor expressways in a real-time manner.

The system allowed for immediate emergency response in cases of wrong-way driving, traffic congestion, and other incidents, ensuring smoother journeys during the Spring Festival travel rush.

The comprehensive adoption of fully digitalized electronic invoices by China's railway authorities in last November has significantly streamlined railway ticket handling, allowing passengers to handle ticket purchases, invoice issuance, and reimbursement with just one click.

In addition, a good number of service innovations, including millimeter wave scanner for security checks, mobile charging robots that can be hailed by scanning a QR code, as well as WeChat mini programs that provide information about road conditions, rescue services, and service areas on expressways, have made people's travel more efficient and enjoyable.

New trends

Stage-by-stage vacations, where people combined family reunions with leisure trips, emerged as a fresh trend during this year's Spring Festival holiday.

Many people returned home first to enjoy family reunions, then traveled for leisure, and finally returned to work or school.

This trend fueled the thriving cultural tourism market and boosted the rental car market.

Data from Chinese ride-hailing firm DiDi Global Inc. reveals that 35 percent of the company's car rental orders during this year's Spring Festival travel rush involved long-term rentals for multi-stop trips averaging five days, 2.5 times the length of regular rentals.

Moreover, themed travel experiences, like the K5197 ice and snow tourism-themed train in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, have transformed traditional journeys into tourism scenarios, increasing passenger numbers and engagement.

The rise in popularity of niche destinations and the expansion of China's visa-free policy have also contributed to a vibrant and diverse travel scene.

During this year's Spring Festival travel rush, many airlines launched new routes to niche destinations, leading to a surge in the number of passengers to previously less-touristy cities like Yanji in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Inbound tourism has benefited greatly from the country's visa-free policy, with second-tier cities including Nantong in east China's Jiangsu Province, Taizhou in east China's Zhejiang Province, and Yining county in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, seeing a significant increase in the number of global travelers seeking an in-depth understanding of China, according to data from Chinese online travel platform Qunar.