Qingming Festival may see travel peak

A travel peak may emerge during Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on April 4 this year, Yicai reported on Thursday.

Transport departments and transport enterprises are gearing up to ensure safety of passenger transport during the upcoming Qingming Festival, the first short-term holiday after most Chinese people spent Spring Festival right where they were.

The proportion of orders for home trips at Didi Hitch is expected to reach 24.1 percent, higher than the same period last year, according to a projection report on travel via Didi Hitch during Qingming Festival.

The projection indicated most people will choose to start travel on April 2 and return on April 5.

Residents in different cities prefer short-distance suburb travel and most people prefer to travel to popular attractions in suburbs, emerging business districts in the city and large-scale amusement parks during Qingming Festival.

Orders to third-tier cities, counties or towns from first-tier, second-tier and third-tier cities are predicted to reach 24.1 percent, higher than the previous year in the same period.

Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou are the top three cities people would like to travel to, and Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai are the top three cities of departure.

A second travel peak is expected to come during this year's May Day holiday, which runs from May 1 to 5.

Effective measures will be taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure safety of passengers during holiday travel, Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng said at a ministerial meeting on March 29.

The transport authorities will issue warnings and service information in a timely manner to guide people to travel in a safe and orderly way, and guide local governments to strictly implement anti-epidemic measures including means of transport, stations and personnel, the report said.