Photo: CFP

Chinese provinces and multiple departments have taken measures to ensure safe and smooth travel, as the eight-day Spring Festival holidays usher in intensive return journeys starting from Thursday.

The railway sector reported 15.16 million passengers on Thursday, setting a record for daily passenger numbers during the Spring Festival travel rush, CCTV reported. It is forecasted that there will be 15.3 million railway passengers on Friday, with an additional 1,813 passenger trains set to open for the travel rush.

China Railway Shanghai Group Co projected that about 2.55 million passengers will travel on Friday, and would step up transport capacity to key travel routes to cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province to meet surging travel demand.

The Spring Festival, which fell on February 10 this year, is China's biggest traditional festival. This year's Spring Festival travel rush started on January 26 and will end on March 5, which expected record-breaking journey numbers.

A 24-year-old white-collar worker surnamed Li in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province, told the Global Times that train tickets from Zhengzhou to Shanghai have all sold out on Friday and the price of air ticket for direct flight to Shanghai has surged from 1,000 yuan ($139) to 6,000 yuan.

In addition, some travelers in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, a hot travel destination, said on social media platforms that the price of air tickets flying from Sanya has surged to over 10,000 yuan from Wednesday to Saturday, compared with around 1,000 yuan during usual times, according to media reports.

Observers have emphasized the importance of ensuring smooth and affordable return trips for Hainan's Spring Festival tourism in order to maintain the region's reputation. They argue that a return trip costing over 10,000 yuan is too expensive for ordinary middle-class families, noting that protecting the experience of tourists in Hainan is crucial for preserving this valuable winter tourism resource in China. These observers suggest that China should transform Hainan into a high-quality and cost-effective brand for domestic tourism services, making it accessible to the general public nationwide. In the event of a significant imbalance between supply and demand for Hainan's air tickets this year, relevant authorities and agencies should coordinate efforts to ensure the civil aviation capacity of Hainan. Every possible measure should be taken to guarantee that all tourists can leave the island on time, they said. 

Government agencies and local authorities have wasted no time in taking measures to ensure smooth travel. According to CCTV, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has approved several airlines, including Hainan Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Sichuan Airlines, to increase the total number of flights by 34 per day for popular travel routes connecting to Haikou in Hainan during the Spring Festival travel rush.

The administration has vowed to ensure that airliners, airports, and the air traffic control department increase flights using wide-body aircraft to the maximum at Sanya and Haikou airports. During the Spring Festival travel rush so far, there have been a total of 136 flights per day using wide-body aircraft, accounting for 36 percent of the total flights at Sanya airport, while at Haikou airport, it reached 13.78 percent, both hitting a record high, it said.

To handle the surging demand during travel rush period from Wednesday to Saturday, Hainan Airlines will arrange 110 flights per day departing from the province and will deploy wide-body aircraft to fly busy routes to popular cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, and Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the airliner told the Global Times on Friday.

China Southern Airline also said it will increase transport capacity in travel routes including Haikou, Changbai Mountain in Northeast China's Jilin Province and Lijiang, a city in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Beijing Business Daily reported on Friday.

Internationally, China Southern Airline will also increase flights from hot travel destinations such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to domestic cities including Guangzhou, Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province, and Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province. 

In order to meet rising passenger flow returning to Beijing, the city's transport department has come up with multiple measures, for example, extending metro operation period linking to the airport and train stations, to ensure services for passengers who might arrive in the city at night.