China records 5.6 pct rise in inter-regional trips during Qingming Festival holiday

Passengers are seen at a platform of Harbin Railway Station in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 3, 2026. (Photo by Yuan Yong/Xinhua)

BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- China saw a notable year-on-year rise in inter-regional travel during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday from April 4 to 6, the Ministry of Transport said Tuesday.

A total of 842.7 million inter-regional passenger trips were made across the country, averaging 280.9 million per day, a 5.6 percent increase compared with the same holiday period in 2025.

Road travel remained the dominant mode of transportation, with 775.54 million trips, up 5.4 percent year on year. Railway passenger trips surged 8.4 percent to 57.79 million, while waterway passenger trips rose 8.4 percent to 3.68 million. Civil aviation carried approximately 5.69 million trips, up 1.6 percent.

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 looking to enjoy the season's fresh greenery and blossoms.

The holiday travel boom was driven by the overlap of the Qingming Festival and spring breaks for primary and secondary school students in many regions, which boosted family trips and parent-child tours.

Returning home for tomb-sweeping and in-depth rural tours also boosted activity in rural areas, helping extend consumption from major cities to towns and villages.