Spring Festival travelers opting to drive to their hometowns

Traveling by car has been the most popular means of transportation during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, with the traffic volume of passenger vehicles on expressways reaching a record high on Wednesday, a transportation official said.

About 60 percent of travelers will go by car during the travel rush as the desire to return home, visit families and friends and go sightseeing has surged since China downgraded its management of COVID-19, Zhou Min, deputy director of the ministry's emergency response office, said at a news conference on Thursday.

From Jan 7 — when the travel rush started — to Wednesday, about 320 million car trips were made on expressways, up 12.7 percent from last year, he said.

There were 29.42 million such trips taken on Wednesday alone, a record high for a single day during Spring Festivals.

During the Jan 7 to Wednesday period, travelers have made a total of 480 million trips via railway, road, waterway and air, up 47.1 percent from the same period last year. This year, the travel rush will conclude on Feb 15.

In terms of logistics, the flow of key goods, including coal, grain and medical supplies, has been smooth during the rush, Zhou said.

Although more people have decided to travel since China optimized its COVID-19 policy, the number of trips made so far is still down 47.3 percent from the same period in 2019.