3b trips expected during Spring Festival travel rush

About 3 billion trips are expected to be made during the world's largest annual human migration — the Spring Festival travel rush, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

China will take multiple measures to ensure the travel rush is a smooth one, the commission said in a news release on Wednesday.

The upcoming 40-day Spring Festival travel rush is going to kick off on Jan 10 and end on Feb 18. The number of road trips is projected to reach some 2.43 billion, a 1.2 percent drop from last year, while train trips are likely to top 440 million during the period, up 8 percent year-on-year, according to the commission.

Air travel will likely see some 79 million trips, surging 8.4 percent, while boat trips are predicted to hit 45 million, which will see a 9.6 percent year-on-year increase, it said.

With the integrated urban-rural development, the growth of passenger trips as well as long-distance trips has slowed down during the Spring Festival travel rush, the commission said, adding that the Spring Festival travel season started a little earlier this year, which will put more pressure on the railway and civil aviation sectors.

Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese Lunar New Year, begins on Jan 25 and is China's most important holiday for family reunions.