How Chinese People Plan to Travel for the Lunar New Year

Despite rail and air travel for the Chinese New Year gaining popularity, travel by road is still the most popular mode of transport for the holiday. 2.4 billion out of the projected 3 billion trips taken on the occasion will be in cars and buses, according to numbers by the National Development and Reform Commission published by Xinhuanet.

Because of the major outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus in Wuhan just ahead of the festivities, roads, trains and flights have been blocked off for the city, blighting travel plans for its citizens. Fear of the outbreak might also cause Chinese citizens in other regions to cancel their travel plans.

Because of the growing middle class in the country, airplane travel has been growing at a fast speed during the holiday, increasing by 12 percent between 2018 and 2019 and by 8 percent between 2019 and 2020. This year, new year train travel also grew by 8 percent after attracting more riders due to improvements to the high-speed network.