Beijing, May 4 (EFE).- The number of passengers handled by China’s transport network during the May Day holidays may have surpassed 270 million journeys, marking a 162.9 percent jump from last year and figures similar to those recorded before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The average daily passenger flow in the Chinese railway system is estimated to have touched 18.18 million – a 464.4 percent increase compared to the same holiday period last year – according to projections released by the transport ministry on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile the average air passenger flow was expected to be around 1.88 million – a 507.4 percent hike compared to 2022 – while the road and waterways numbers were expected to rise by 99.1 percent and 114.2 percent respectively.
Tourism in China recovered to pre-pandemic levels during the May Day holidays, as the number of domestic trips rose by more than two-thirds from 2022, when the country had the zero-Covid policy in place with limits on inter-city travel and localized lockdowns.
Chinese tourists carried out over 274 million domestic trips during the five-day holiday beginning Apr. 29: a 70.8 percent rise compared to last year and 19 percent higher than the 2019 figure.
During these trips, Chinese tourists spent an estimated 148 billion yuan ($21.45 billion), a 128.9 percent spike year-on-year and around the same as the 2019 expenditure. EFE
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