China sees sharp surge in interregional passenger trips during Mid-Autumn Festival holiday

China has seen a sharp surge in interregional passenger trips in the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival which ends on Tuesday, with the total number of passenger trips in the entire holiday season expected to reach a record high of more than 600 million, according to the latest official data released by the Ministry of Transport.

Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally a cherished occasion for family reunions, sparking an annual wave of travel to see loved ones or simply to enjoy time off from work and studies. The holiday runs from Sept 15 to 17 this year.

The data from the Ministry of Transport show that during the three-day holiday, the average daily interregional passenger flow is expected to exceed 205 million, an increase of 28.2 percent over the same period of 2023. In particular, the railway passenger volume is expected to exceed 42.99 million.

As the impact of Typhoon Bebinca weakens, passenger train services on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, Shanghai-Kunming High-Speed Railway, Hangzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway and other lines have gradually resumed operation. Railway authorities in many places have launched special tourist train services with festival-related themes, promoting integrated development of "railway + cultural tourism".

Regarding highway transportation, the travel flow shows a tidal trait, mainly for short- and medium-distance self-driving. New energy vehicles account for more than half of the highway travel flow. In areas with concentrated charging demand such as scenic spots and highway service areas, transportation, electricity and other departments have enhanced efforts in services to ensure that car owners can charge their vehicles in a safe and orderly manner.

During the holiday, the civil aviation sector is expected to handle a total of 5.1116 million passenger trips nationwide, with popular routes concentrated between the four major city clusters of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China, the Yangtze River Delta in east China, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao area in south China, and the Chengdu-Chongqing region in southwest China.

As of early morning on Tuesday, the inbound and outbound passenger flow at the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport exceeded 10 million, a year-on-year increase of 19 percent, a record high in the past five years.

China sees sharp surge in interregional passenger trips during Mid-Autumn Festival holiday

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting