China Records Over 650 Million Mid-Autumn Holiday Passenger Trips

China's three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday concluded on September 27 with an estimated 650 million cross-regional passenger journeys, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Transport reported by state media. Daily mobility averaged around 220 million trips, with September 26 recording 199.462 million cross-regional trips. The final day saw a major return peak on the national railway network, which scheduled nearly 1,400 additional passenger trains to manage an expected 16.86 million travelers.

Holiday mobility figures serve as a timely gauge of domestic consumption enthusiasm and travel confidence. The heavy concentration of short-distance driving and peri-urban excursions underlines a steady consumer preference for flexible, localized leisure trips, while testing the dynamic capacity management of transport networks during short holiday cycles.

China's transport network handled more than 650 million cross-regional passenger trips across the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which concluded on September 27, according to data from the Ministry of Transport reported by official media. Daily cross-regional passenger movements averaged approximately 220 million trips throughout the holiday. On September 26, the second day of the break, official figures published by China News Service showed cross-regional journeys reached 199.462 million. Passenger demand remained elevated throughout the break, characterized by strong short-haul mobility. Highway networks saw self-driving trips to peri-urban and rural scenic locations emerge as the dominant travel choice. In response to high road traffic volumes, transport agencies added lanes and ramps at high-risk choke points, including toll plazas, service plazas, and interchange hubs, to mitigate recurring bottlenecks. The national railway system experienced its holiday return peak on September 27, handling an estimated 16.86 million passenger journeys on that single day, according to a report by CCTV carried on the central government portal. To accommodate the concentrated return rush, railway authorities scheduled 1,398 additional passenger train services while coordinating with municipal transport agencies to facilitate transfers to local buses and subways. Waterborne tourism also registered substantial growth. Urban sightseeing cruises and island-hopping tours reported active interest, with total passenger volume on night cruises projected to expand by more than 26 percent compared to typical periods. The three-day holiday provides an operational reference point for transport operators ahead of the longer National Day Golden Week in early October, demonstrating robust appetite for regional leisure and short-stay tourism across China's major metropolitan clusters.