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| 9 Billion Trips Expected During Lunar New Year Rush |
Each year, hundreds of millions of Chinese traverse the country during the Lunar New Year holiday, either to reunite with their families in hometowns or to enjoy sightseeing during the festive season. This massive movement, known as Chunyun in Chinese, is the world's largest annual human migration.
The Lunar New Year travel rush serves as both a gauge of China's economic vitality and a rigorous test of its expansive transportation network.
How Long Does Chunyun Last?
This year’s travel rush began on Tuesday and will span 40 days, concluding on February 22. The official Spring Festival holiday, from January 28 to February 4, is the core celebration period within this extended timeframe.
How Many Trips Are Expected?
Authorities project a record-breaking 9 billion domestic trips during the 40-day period, surpassing the 8.4 billion trips recorded last year. This rise follows adjustments made by the Ministry of Transport in recent years to include additional road trips on national expressways and highways.
For context, 2.98 billion trips were recorded in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel patterns.
Modes of Travel
Road travel is expected to dominate, with an estimated 7.2 billion journeys accounting for roughly 80% of the total trips. Train travel is set to reach a record 510 million trips, a 5.5% increase from the previous year, while air travel is forecasted to exceed 90 million trips.
Top Travel Destinations
Popular air travel destinations include Chongqing, Chengdu, Beijing, Harbin, and Xi’an, according to state broadcaster CCTV. For rail travel, hotspots like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Wuhan are seeing significant traffic.
Internationally, cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, and Singapore are attracting strong demand, as noted by the civil aviation authority.
Travel on Day 1
On the first day of Chunyun, domestic travel reached an estimated 172.39 million trips, including:
- 159.52 million by road
- 10.3 million by rail
- 2.04 million by air
- 530,000 by waterways
What’s New This Year?
The 2025 travel rush features notable changes:
- Extended Spring Festival Break: The official holiday period now spans eight days, up from the previous seven.
- Visa-Free Entry Expansion: China extended visa-free entry to travelers from 38 countries, including Japan and South Korea, and doubled the permitted stay to 30 days.
- Transit Policy Upgrade: Eligible foreign transit travelers can now stay up to 10 days, compared to six days previously.
Chunyun remains not just a testament to the cultural significance of the Lunar New Year but also a remarkable logistical feat that underscores China’s vast and evolving mobility network.
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