During the 40-day Lunar New Year travel period, China recorded an unprecedented 9.02 billion domestic trips, as reported by the state-run Xinhua news agency on Sunday. This figure exceeded the 8.4 billion trips made during the same holiday period the previous year.

The Lunar New Year travel rush, the country's most significant holiday season, is often seen as an indicator of China's economic health and a test of its extensive transportation network. The increase in travel met expectations.

According to Xinhua, approximately 513 million train trips were made during the Spring Festival, marking a 6.1% rise from last year, while air travel saw a 7.4% increase with 90.2 million passengers.

The annual travel tally has surged since the Ministry of Transport adjusted the metric before the 2023 Lunar New Year to include self-driving road trips on major national expressways. In comparison, the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush, which occurred before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, saw a total of 2.98 billion trips.