Tourists take photos in front of a giant flower basket being placed at Tian'anmen Square in downtown Beijing on September 21, 2023 to celebrate the upcoming National Day holidays, which will begin on October 1. Photo: VCG

 
China’s highway traffic on the first day of the eight-day Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays might set a new record, Wang Xiuchun, an official from the Ministry of Transport, said on Thursday, as a sign of robust recovery in travel during the upcoming “golden week.” 

Wang said that the daily highway traffic volume will surge by 40 percent compared with the same period in 2022. September 29, the first day of the holidays, is also the Mid-Autumn Festival, so a travel peak is expected due to both tourism and family visits.  

Central cities and other major tourist destinations, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangzte River Delta, will see the heaviest traffic. China Railway Shanghai Group (CRSG) announced that passenger trips in the Yangtze River Delta region will reach 370 million during the travel peak that will last for 12 days, the CRSG said on Thursday.

The representative from CRSG said that the travel peak will start on September 27 and end on October 8, and the number of passenger trips on October 1 might set a new record of 3.7 million. 

Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, as a central city in the Yangtze River Delta region, has seen an intensive tourist wave, with the 19th Asian Games set to start on Saturday and end on October 8.

In total, around 190 million railway passengers will travel in the 12-day golden railway transportation week, CCTV reported, showing the recovery of the Chinese economy. 

The Ministry of Transport will improve transportation on roads, railways, waterways and in civil aviation and will publish the traffic information for travelers, Wang said.