China’s Ministry of Transport has confirmed that on 21 February—day 19 of the 2026 ‘chunyun’ travel rush—an unprecedented 3.63 billion cross-regional passenger trips were recorded across rail, road, air and waterways. The figure represents the third consecutive day of all-time highs and underscores the scale of pent-up domestic mobility two years after pandemic controls were lifted.
Railways carried 16.8 million passengers, while highways handled an estimated 3.39 billion. Airports processed 2.63 million travellers, a 17 percent jump on the same day last year. The National Immigration Administration reported that inbound flows peaked on 22–23 February, with Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun and Beijing Capital airports each clearing over 100,000 international passengers daily.
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Amid these surging flows, organisations are rediscovering how indispensable proactive travel documentation planning has become. Partnering with a specialist such as VisaHQ can shave days off the visa-application cycle: its portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) consolidates the latest Chinese entry policies, offers step-by-step digital filing, and provides courier pickup for passports—making it easier for mobility teams to keep travellers moving.
For global-mobility managers the numbers translate into packed trains and flight inventory constraints. Corporations should expect elevated airfare and hotel rates through the end of February as return traffic continues. The civil-aviation regulator has already authorised additional overnight ‘red-eye’ slots at six major hubs to relieve congestion.
Longer term, the record-breaking statistics strengthen the business case for China’s ongoing visa-facilitation drive: authorities attribute part of the surge to the widening ‘visa-free friendship circle’ and to simplified digital entry procedures such as mobile-phone customs declarations.
Railways carried 16.8 million passengers, while highways handled an estimated 3.39 billion. Airports processed 2.63 million travellers, a 17 percent jump on the same day last year. The National Immigration Administration reported that inbound flows peaked on 22–23 February, with Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun and Beijing Capital airports each clearing over 100,000 international passengers daily.
Amid these surging flows, organisations are rediscovering how indispensable proactive travel documentation planning has become. Partnering with a specialist such as VisaHQ can shave days off the visa-application cycle: its portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) consolidates the latest Chinese entry policies, offers step-by-step digital filing, and provides courier pickup for passports—making it easier for mobility teams to keep travellers moving.
For global-mobility managers the numbers translate into packed trains and flight inventory constraints. Corporations should expect elevated airfare and hotel rates through the end of February as return traffic continues. The civil-aviation regulator has already authorised additional overnight ‘red-eye’ slots at six major hubs to relieve congestion.
Longer term, the record-breaking statistics strengthen the business case for China’s ongoing visa-facilitation drive: authorities attribute part of the surge to the widening ‘visa-free friendship circle’ and to simplified digital entry procedures such as mobile-phone customs declarations.
