More than 320 million inter-regional passenger trips were expected across China on Wednesday, the 18th day of this year's 40-day Spring Festival travel rush period and the second day of the Chinese New Year, according to data released by the Ministry of Transport.
This figure marks a sharp 43.1 percent growth from the previous day, the Chinese New Year, with family reunions and tourism overlapping to fuel a surge in short-distance travel.
Nationwide, railways were expecting to handle 10.8 million passenger trips, up 78.5 percent from Tuesday.
To meet this surge, rail operators were planning to run an additional 476 passenger trains on Wednesday.
Highway traffic was projected to surpass 50 million vehicle trips, putting pressure on roads around popular tourist sites.
Around 2.48 million passenger trips on planes were also expected on Wednesday.
Routes from major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Chongqing to tourist cities such as Harbin and Kunming are the most popular, with many airlines boosting capacity on those high-demand routes.
The travel rush, also known as chunyun, which runs from Feb 2 to March 13 this year, is expected to see a record 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips across the country.
Over 320 mln inter-regional passenger trips expected on Day 18 of Spring Festival travel rush
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
