Travel Demand Remains High on Third Day of China’s National Day Holiday

Dragon Media News Desk

Passenger travel across China remained strong on Saturday, the third day of the seven-day National Day holiday. With demand for short-haul and regional trips gaining momentum, the country’s railways were expected to carry 18.9 million passengers in a single day.

The holiday runs from October 1 to 7, with increased travel across railways, highways, airports and major tourist destinations. Cross-regional passenger trips exceeded 300 million on Friday. Road travel was expected to surpass 280 million trips that day, while railways were estimated to carry 20.4 million passengers.

Railway authorities planned to operate 910 additional passenger trains on Saturday to meet demand. More intercity services were also scheduled on popular routes to accommodate the concentration of short-distance travel.

Passenger flows remained particularly strong in the Yangtze River Delta. China Railway Shanghai Group expected 3.72 million passenger trips in the region on Saturday. On Thursday, the first day of the holiday, the region’s railways carried 4.427 million passengers, a record single-day figure for the holiday period.

Interprovincial cruises on the Yangtze River also attracted more holiday travelers. An estimated 36,900 passengers were expected to travel on the river’s main channel during the holiday, averaging 5,300 trips a day, up 15.22 percent from the same period last year.

At the land ports in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, two-way cross-border traffic was expected to reach a peak of 1.09 million passenger trips on Saturday. Traffic around major commercial districts and tourist attractions was also expected to remain high.

The Ministry of Transport projected 2.13 billion cross-regional passenger trips over the seven-day holiday, averaging about 300 million a day—around 1.7 times the normal level. Analysts said the sustained demand for short-haul and regional travel was expected to support spending on tourism, dining, retail and leisure.