China expects increase in New Year travel numbers, despite economic doldrums

BEIJING: China expects an increase in the number of people joining the coming Lunar New Year travel rush, with authorities estimating a record nine billion domestic trips will be made during the 40-day period of festivities, despite the stuttering economy.

State media reported the forecast for the travel season that starts on January 14 when people traditionally travel to and from their home towns. Last year, authorities also expected nine billion domestic trips, but actual numbers fell short with around 8.4 billion total trips logged.

Self-driving road trips are expected to make up about 80 per cent of trips this year, followed by train and air travel, Li Chunlin, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

This year’s Spring Festival comes at a time when China’s economy is in the doldrums, struggling to recover from three years of pandemic control and hamstrung by a prolonged property market crisis. Exports are a bright spot in growth but face possible new US tariffs when Donald Trump takes office this month.

The government has rolled out a flurry of stimulus measures in recent months, including interest rate cuts and an expansion in the scope of a consumer goods trade-in scheme, but has so far failed to stage a sustained recovery.

Annual official tallies of trips made during the New Year travel rush have jumped since the Ministry of Transport revised the metric before the 2023 Lunar New Year to include self-driving road trips on major national expressways.

The metric was changed again before the 2024 celebrations to include road trips made on more highways.A total of 2.98 billion trips were recorded in the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush, the year before the pandemic restrictions hampered travel.

A record 510 million train trips are expected during the coming 40-day period, up 5.5 per cent year-on-year, Zhu Wenzhong, an official from China’s national railway operator, said at the same briefing.Some 90 million plane trips are expected during this year’s celebrations, also a record high, the NDRC’s Li said.