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

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.

This photo taken on March 9, 2026 shows vehicles getting refueled at a gas station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

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.

China recorded 135 million domestic tourist trips during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday, up 6.8 percent from a year earlier, while tourism spending rose 6.6 percent to nearly 61.37 billion yuan (8.9 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The holiday travel boom was further fueled by the overlap of the Qingming Festival with spring breaks for primary and secondary school students in many regions.

Minors accounted for a larger share of air and high-speed rail passengers, and the number of travelers journeying more than 800 kilometers increased notably, the ministry said, adding that parent-child trips made up 37 percent of the total value of tourism orders nationwide, making them a key driver of holiday travel demand.

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.