China saw a record high number of inter-regional passenger trips during the just-concluded five-day May Day holiday, the Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday.
The country recorded around 1.517 billion inter-regional passenger trips during the holiday that ended on Tuesday, a 3.49-percent increase compared with the same period last year.
Tourist trips accounted for 60 percent of all travel.
Railways operated an average of over 12,000 passenger trains per day, with passenger trips rising 4.6 percent to 106.38 million.
Road travel remained the dominant mode of transportation, with over 1.39 billion trips recorded, or about 91 percent of the total. Notably, the number of new energy vehicles on expressways averaged more than 15 million per day, up 33 percent from a year ago.
Waterway passenger trips dipped 1.37 percent to 8.49 million, while Civil aviation handled 10.54 million trips during this period, down 5.74 percent year on year.
"We have increased transportation capacity scheduling in key areas such as popular tourist cities, major scenic spots, and transportation hubs, enhanced rapid distribution capabilities, and made every effort to ensure smooth transport network operations," said Yang Yong, deputy head of the Transport Services Department of the Chinese Ministry of Transport.
China's May Day holiday travel boom is driven by strong demand for tourism, family visits and leisure activities.
China logs record high inter-regional passenger trips in May Day holiday
The Iranian armed forces announced on Saturday that they hit U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan in waves of retaliatory missile and drone attacks launched earlier the day.
The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that its ground forces targeted the gathering place of U.S. forces at a backup center at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, killing a number of them.
Iranian forces also launched a drone attack that destroyed a radar system, a weapons depot and a hangar of drones at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, the IRGC added.
In a post on X, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday that two U.S. service members were killed and another remains missing after Iran's strikes on a base in Jordan on Friday.
The deaths bring the total number of U.S. military personnel killed to 16 since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb 28.
CENTCOM said on Friday that U.S. forces struck multiple military infrastructure targets and underground weapons storage facilities in Iran and were implementing a comprehensive naval blockade against Iran.
Iran said on Saturday that its armed forces destroyed a U.S. unmanned boat storage base in Bahrain and struck U.S. targets in Kuwait, Jordan and Syria.
The IRGC warned that if the United States continues to attack Iran's transportation infrastructure, Iran would launch larger-scale retaliation against U.S.-linked economic and technological assets.
As tensions between the two countries escalated, international crude oil futures closed up more than four percent on Friday, with New York crude oil futures returning above 80 U.S. dollars per barrel for the first time in a month.
Iran's armed forces claim hits on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan in in retaliation
