The number of people returning home for Tet in 2024 is unprecedented

On January 26, China began its busiest annual Spring Festival travel period. According to China Central Television (CCTV), this year's Spring Festival will see 9 billion people return home to celebrate the Lunar New Year. This is a record number.

Of the 9 billion people returning home to reunite with their families, about 80% traveled by personal vehicles. This is also an unprecedented high rate. The rest traveled by rail, air and water.

A total of 480 million trips will be made nationwide during the 40-day period around the Lunar New Year holiday, up 38% from 2023 and 17% from 2019, before the Covid-19 outbreak. On January 26 alone, the first day of the Spring Festival, about 11 million train trips were made.

On the same day, the Civil Aviation Administration of China predicted that the number of passengers during this year's "Chunyun" period will increase to 80 million, up 9.8% compared to 2019. The two main airports in Beijing alone could record a record 76,000 takeoffs and landings during this period, up about 20% compared to the same period last year. Chinese civil aviation authorities have arranged more than 2,500 additional international flights to Asian destinations, including Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.

Chinese media said that this year's Lunar New Year in China, which takes place from February 10 to 17, will be one day longer than previous years, putting more pressure on the country's transportation system, as pent-up demand for family reunions and soaring travel demand.

Minh Hoa (reported by Hanoi Moi, Tin Tuc Newspaper)