Report a road map of Chinese travel trends in 2020

The day with the highest vehicle volume this year in China was Oct 1, the first day of the eight-day National Day holiday, and the day with the lowest vehicle volume Feb 15, when the coronavirus epidemic was raging in the country, according to a new report.

The report, released by AutoNavi, or Gaode Map on Tuesday, provides a big picture of Chinese people's travel and outings in 2020.

Many of the trends revealed in the report are connected with the situation of domestic pandemic control, which has a clear impact on people's will to travel and get around.

According to the report, since Wuhan entered a lockdown, the national driving activity index experienced a dramatic fall from 68.9 percent on Jan 23 to 14.1 percent on Feb 15. The index remained low by the end of March and started to pick up from April as the epidemic was curbed and resumption of work and production progressed steadily, the report said.

Four of the top 10 Chinese cities where workers clock out at the latest hours are located in Guangdong, the report found. Guangzhou took the top spot, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing, Dongguan, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Foshan and Chongqing,

In the first half of this year, supermarkets and other places related to daily necessities like agricultural products were among the most-searched destination types. In the second half, the top five most-searched destination types were restaurants serving Chinese food, scenic spots, shopping malls, railway stations and budget hotels. The difference reflected a significant change in people's will to travel, said the report.

The report revealed Guangzhou South Railway Station was the most-searched destination for the whole year. Official statistics from the station show it handled 437,000 passengers on Oct 1, setting a new record.

In addition, the number of small store points of interest marked on the map saw a big increase this year, the report said. The number in December rose by 23.5 percent from April. The small stores across the country have contributed to the recovery of the Chinese economy, it said.