China says it expects domestic travel to double during holiday season

People wearing face masks watch a fire show on New Year’s Eve at Aranya Resort in Qinhuangdao, China, on December 31. China said it expects domestic travel to double for its Lunar New Year. Photo by Wu Hao/EPA-EFE
Jan. 6 (UPI) — The Chinese government said Friday it expects domestic travel to double for its 40-day Lunar New Year travel season to 2.1 billion trips, risking the further spread of COVID-19 since the country has relaxed many of its zero-tolerance restrictions. The Spring Festival travel season kicks off Saturday, which had been limited in previous years because of the widespread restrictions on the mainland. The travel number is expected to grow significantly from last year, reaching 70% of the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Advertisement
During the pandemic, Chinese travelers were required to present a negative COVID-19 certificate on a smartphone app, with travel records on a different app to use public transportation, enter shopping malls and access office buildings.
Civil Aviation Administration of China spokesperson Wan Xiangdong said air transportation volume is expected to return to 73% of the 2019 level, with the number of daily arranged passenger flights reaching 11,000.
The administration said it has approved 10,313 extra flights, including 3,459 flights serving Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in South China’s Guangdong Province. Starting Thursday to handle the expected travel surge.
China State Railway Group executive Huang Xin said the company has made arrangements to increase its transport capacity by 11%. The group said it will make more than 9 million seats available daily during the holiday period, known in China as Chunyun.
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The holiday comes as China struggles with increasing COVID-19 numbers. The World Health Organization on Wednesday warned that China was under-representing the true impact of COVID-19 there, including deaths.
The director of Beijing’s Institute of Respiratory Diseases admitted the number of deaths of elderly people so far this winter was “definitely more” than in past years but added that critical cases remained a small part of overall COVID-19 cases.
Overseas, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries have placed restrictions on Chinese residents traveling to their country. The European Union this week allowed member states to place voluntary restrictions because of COVID-19 spread concerns.