Up to 3b trips expected during Spring Festival travel rush

About 2.99 billion trips are expected to be made during the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush between Jan 21 and March 1, China's top economic planner said on Friday.

The figure is up 0.6 percent from last year, said Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, during a news conference.

Reverse Spring Festival travel, where parents travel to cities where their children are working in for a family reunion rather than have their kids come to the hometown, has become a trend. People involved in reverse Spring Festival travel grew 9 percent year-on-year on average, according to China Railway Corp.

The number of road trips is projected to reach 2.46 billion, a 0.8 percent decrease from last year, while train trips are likely to top 413 million during the period, up 8.3 percent year-on-year, according to the handouts at the news conference.

Air travel will likely see 73 million trips, surging 12 percent from last year, while boat trips are predicted to hit 43 million during the period, flat year-on-year, according to the handouts.

More than 1,000 extra flights have been approved to cross the Taiwan Straits between Jan 22 and Feb 19.

By the end of 2018, the mileage of roads in operation reached 4.86 million kilometers, with expressways at 144,000 km and inland waterways at 127,000 km, according to the transportation ministry.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Feb 5 this year. The festival is the most important occasion for family reunions.