Travel boom continues as Chinese enjoy National Day holiday

BEIJING -- Travel in the world's second-largest economy continued to boom on Thursday, the third day of China's week-long National Day holiday, official data showed Friday.

More than 17.6 million train trips were made on Thursday, up 8 percent year on year. Passenger trips by water hit nearly 1.8 million, up 26.7 percent from a year earlier, and air passenger trips reached 2.19 million, up 12.5 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Ministry of Transport.

Road traffic took the lion's share, with 261.71 million passenger trips recorded, up 3.9 percent year on year, the data shows.

China's annual National Day holiday is marked by family reunions and a surge in travel. On Friday, the ministry urged transport departments in various regions to continue making every effort to ensure smooth transportation and logistics services.