China's transportation system increases capacity to handle last day of Qingming Festival holiday

China's transportation system increased capacity on Monday, the last day of the three-day Qingming Festival holiday, to handle the peak in return trips.

The Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, falls on April 5 this year. It is a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the dead and worship their ancestors. The holiday also provides a short break for people as they engage in travel and leisure.

This year’s Qingming Festival holiday coincides with the spring breaks at some schools. Travel demand for family visits, tomb sweeping, spring outings, and sightseeing have remained strong throughout the break.

China's railway system is set to see a peak in return travel with the nationwide railways expecting to handle 20.8 million passenger trips and 1,369 extra passenger trains scheduled to be added.

The expressways across China are seeing a minor peak in return trips on Monday. The total number of vehicle trips is expected to reach around 61 million.

Waterway passenger volume is projected to hit over 1.11 million trips on Monday. During the whole Qingming Festival holiday, China's waterways are expected to carry out more than 3.7 million passenger trips.

China's transportation system increases capacity to handle last day of Qingming Festival holiday

The eurozone composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) -- a key indicator of business activity -- fell to 47.5 in May, the lowest level in 31 months, according to data released in an S and P Global report on Thursday.

The report said that increased cost pressures have led to a contraction in business activities in the eurozone.

The service sector, a key pillar of the economy, took a heavy hit, with its PMI plunging to 46.4, a 63-month low.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing PMI stood at 51.4, suggesting the pace of expansion slowed to its weakest since January.

The report quoted Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S and P Global Market Intelligence, as saying that the preliminary PMI data for May showed the war in the Middle East has been weighing increasingly heavily on the eurozone economy.

The eurozone economy is expected to contract by 0.2 percent in the second quarter, while inflation could approach 4 percent in the coming months, according to Williamson.

Eurozone composite PMI falls to lowest level in 31 months