Rain, snow has travelers on the right track home

Railway traffic in China peaked yesterday as the weeklong Spring Festival holiday ended.

Yesterday was expected to record 12.52 million railway trips, up 3.3 percent from the same period of last year, according to the China Railway Corp.

About 11.11 million railway trips were made on Saturday, up 4 percent year on year.

Rain and snow hit many regions in China during the weekend, partly shifting traffic to the railways.

This year’s Spring Festival travel rush started on January 21 and will last till March 1, with railway trips expected to hit 413 million in total, up 8.3 percent. 

Tourist attractions nationwide recorded 415 million visitors, a rise of 7.6 percent from the same period of last year.

A tourism revenue of 513.9 billion yuan (US$76.2 billion) was generated, or an increase of 8.2 percent, according to the China Tourism Academy.

During last year’s Spring Festival holiday, 386 million trips were made domestically, contributing to an increase of 475 billion yuan in China’s travel revenue. 

Traditional folk customs and culture lured large number of tourists with diversified Spring Festival activities organized nationwide. These included lantern fairs, dragon and lion dances and juggling in Anhui Province, and temple fair and spring flower markets in Guangdong Province.

In addition, museums and art galleries were also popular among travelers during the holiday, the academy said.

Its survey found that 40.5 percent of tourists visited museums, and 44.2 percent galleries during the holiday. 

More than 40 percent spent time at libraries and science and technology museums, and 34.8 percent watched cultural performances.

Rich cultural and tourism activities such as temple fairs, riddle guessing and parades staged in the nation’s countryside to celebrate the festival, together with strawberry and tangerine picking events had also attracted many travelers, the academy said.