More than 362 million trips recorded in China Spring Festival travel rush on final day

More than 362 million trips recorded in China Spring Festival travel rush on final day
Various of travellers checking in at airport, Sanya City, Hainan Province, south China - 23 Feb, 2026
Reuters

Chinese travellers made an estimated 362.58 million cross-regional passenger trips on Monday, the final day of the Spring Festival holiday, according to official data.

The figure marked a 4.7% decline compared with Sunday, but represented an 11.9% increase compared with the last day of the holiday period in 2025.

China’s says its railway network handled approximately 18.5 million passenger journeys on Monday - up 1.2% from the previous day and 8.6% higher year on year.

Road travel accounted for the vast majority of journeys, with an estimated 339.83 million driver and passenger trips recorded nationwide. That represented a 5% daily decrease but a 12% rise compared with the same day last year.

Reuters

Of those road trips, around 35.21 million were made using commercial passenger vehicles, while private vehicles accounted for 304.62 million journeys.

Water transport handled an estimated 1.6 million passenger trips, down 4.3% from Sunday but up 31.2% compared with a year earlier.

Meanwhile, China’s civil aviation sector transported approximately 2.65 million passengers on Monday - a marginal 0.2% increase from the previous day and a 6.9% rise year on year.

Reuters

This year’s Spring Festival, marking the start of the Year of the Horse, fell on 17 February. The official holiday ran from 15 to 23 February, while the wider travel rush - known as “Chunyun” - will continue until 13 March.

Chunyun is widely regarded as the world’s largest annual human migration, as hundreds of millions of people travel across the country to reunite with family and celebrate the Lunar New Year.

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