China’s 40-day Spring Festival migration, or ‘chunyun’, officially began on 2 February and transport authorities say it will be the biggest movement of people ever recorded. The Ministry of Transport projects 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips between 2 February and 13 March—roughly 5 percent more than last year and equal to more than one round-trip for every person in China.
Road travel will continue to dominate, accounting for about 80 percent of journeys, but rail and aviation are the main growth stories for corporate mobility planners. China State Railway Group expects to carry 540 million passengers—an average 13.5 million a day—while the Civil Aviation Administration forecasts 95 million air trips. Both figures exceed pre-pandemic peaks, underscoring how quickly capacity has been restored.
For foreign visitors hoping to navigate the evolving entry rules during this record travel season, VisaHQ can streamline the entire process—whether that means securing a conventional visa, understanding the new 240-hour transit-visa exemptions, or simply getting clarity on documentation requirements. Its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) provides up-to-date guidance, digital application tools, and real-time support, helping travelers move through China’s airports and railway hubs with confidence.
![China launches 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, forecasts record 9.5 billion trips]()
To manage the surge, railway operators have opened 50 new passenger stations and put more than 3,000 km of new track into service since last year. Airlines have added wide-body capacity on trunk leisure routes such as Beijing–Sanya and introduced flexible refund rules on off-peak flights to spread demand.
The government is also using the travel rush to stress-test new facilitation measures for foreign visitors. Digital arrival-card kiosks, 240-hour visa-free transit zones and multilingual e-payment pilots will all operate at full scale for the first time during the holiday. Business-travel managers say this is a crucial rehearsal ahead of several major trade fairs in March and April.
For global supply-chain teams, the flip-side of the exodus is a near-total shutdown of factory production for up to three weeks. Many multinationals have front-loaded orders or shifted critical assembly work to Southeast Asia to avoid delays, but logistics analysts still warn of tight container space and higher local trucking rates once factories restart.
Road travel will continue to dominate, accounting for about 80 percent of journeys, but rail and aviation are the main growth stories for corporate mobility planners. China State Railway Group expects to carry 540 million passengers—an average 13.5 million a day—while the Civil Aviation Administration forecasts 95 million air trips. Both figures exceed pre-pandemic peaks, underscoring how quickly capacity has been restored.
For foreign visitors hoping to navigate the evolving entry rules during this record travel season, VisaHQ can streamline the entire process—whether that means securing a conventional visa, understanding the new 240-hour transit-visa exemptions, or simply getting clarity on documentation requirements. Its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) provides up-to-date guidance, digital application tools, and real-time support, helping travelers move through China’s airports and railway hubs with confidence.
To manage the surge, railway operators have opened 50 new passenger stations and put more than 3,000 km of new track into service since last year. Airlines have added wide-body capacity on trunk leisure routes such as Beijing–Sanya and introduced flexible refund rules on off-peak flights to spread demand.
The government is also using the travel rush to stress-test new facilitation measures for foreign visitors. Digital arrival-card kiosks, 240-hour visa-free transit zones and multilingual e-payment pilots will all operate at full scale for the first time during the holiday. Business-travel managers say this is a crucial rehearsal ahead of several major trade fairs in March and April.
For global supply-chain teams, the flip-side of the exodus is a near-total shutdown of factory production for up to three weeks. Many multinationals have front-loaded orders or shifted critical assembly work to Southeast Asia to avoid delays, but logistics analysts still warn of tight container space and higher local trucking rates once factories restart.
