BEIJING – China on Jan 26 kicked off its busiest annual period of mass migration, with a record nine billion domestic trips expected to be made during a 40-day travel rush around the Chinese New Year holidays.

That would be nearly double the 4.7 billion trips made during the so-called Spring Festival travel rush in 2023 when ultra-strict Covid-19 restrictions were abolished.

Millions of people will travel back to their home towns to reunite with families for Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 10, in the world’s largest mass migration each year.

About 80 per cent of the nine billion trips will be self-driving road trips, also a record, with the rest by rail, air and water, Chinese state television CCTV has reported.

Nearly 11 million train trips – the main mode of transportation in China – were expected on Jan 26. A total of 480 million trips will be made nationwide during the 40-day period, a 38 per cent jump from 2023 and up 17 per cent from 2019 before the pandemic.

Both rail and air travel skyrocketed on the first day of the 2024 rush. Passengers struggled to get train tickets, even though China is home to the world’s largest high-speed network.

Ms Miranda Guo, a 25-year-old cartoonist from a Hangzhou-based Chinese technology firm, was lucky to have secured a seat on a bullet train to Jinan. But that was only after forking out an additional 60 yuan (S$11), 13 per cent of the ticket price, on an “accelerator package” offered by third-party booking apps.

“I think it’s hard to buy a ticket this year, with almost all my colleagues failing to get tickets. Many of them are still on waiting lists,” Ms Guo said.

Air passenger trips were estimated to reach two million on Jan 26, CCTV reported. During the travel rush, the number of trips made by air is expected to surge to 80 million, per China’s aviation regulator, up 9.8 per cent from 2019.

Airports in China’s biggest cities – Beijing and Shanghai – are bracing themselves for heavy crowds.

Shanghai’s two airports, Pudong and Hongqiao, expect passenger traffic to surge 57.6 per cent on year in the 40-day period, while Beijing’s airports will see a more than 60 per cent jump.

Overseas travel will also rise during the travel peak.

China’s aviation authorities have arranged more than 2,500 additional international flights to Asian destinations, including South-east Asia, Japan and South Korea.

Additional rail trips and flights are also arranged for popular domestic tourism cities, including Harbin in north-east China and Sanya, a popular tropical destination in the south. REUTERS