China expects highway traffic to set record during Labour Day holiday

[BEIJING] Travel during China's upcoming Labour Day holiday is expected to surge, with highway traffic on May 1 alone likely to exceed 60 million vehicles and set a new high, the government said on Tuesday.

Traffic on the national highway network will likely surpass the record 57 million vehicles clocked on May 1, 2019, said the transport ministry's Highway Monitoring and Response Center.

Average daily traffic on the national expressway network during the May 1-5 holiday is expected to hit 52.5 million to 54.5 million vehicles, according to the centre. That would be 16 per cent to 20 per cent higher than last year's holiday traffic over the same period and 2 per cent to 6 per cent above 2019.

Travel for tourism and family visits is widely expected to soar during the period, with local outbreaks of the novel coronavirus largely under control and demand for leisure travel reaching a feverish pitch following previous lockdowns and travel restrictions due to Covid-19.

Closed international borders have also kept most Chinese travellers at home.

China expects to see around 250 million domestic trips during the holiday, with bookings of air tickets, admission tickets and hotel rooms significantly surpassing that of the same period in 2019, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

Small passenger vehicles will account for most of the highway traffic, with inter-provincial and long-distance movements expected to rise significantly, according to the highway monitoring centre.

Traffic volume will be concentrated in four zones: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei in northern China, the Yangtze River Delta in the east, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area in the south, and the Sichuan-Chongqing region in the southwest.

Their combined average daily traffic volume of 30 million vehicles will account for 50 per cent to 60 per cent of nationwide levels, according to the centre.

During the period, passenger cars with seven seats or less will be exempt from tolls on all highways.

REUTERS