[Ferro-Alloys.com] China's transport ministry is expecting a big fall in travel during the lunar new year period.

 

Passenger travel will see a "significant decrease" to a total of around 1.15bn journeys, or a daily average of about 28.8mn during the 40-day chunyun lunar new year travel period that starts January 28, a transport ministry official said. This would be down by 20pc from the lunar new year in 2020 and more than 60pc lower than in 2019, the last holiday period that was not affected by Covid-19.

 

The latest forecast is also significantly lower than the 1.7bn journeys that the transport ministry was predicting as recently as last week.

 

The Chinese government has been calling for people to cancel trips back to their home towns over the lunar new year in an attempt to cut social interactions following the country's worst outbreak of Covid-19 in 10 months. Strict quarantine measures and health checks have further deterred travel. This may send passenger demand even lower than the latest forecasts, the transport ministry official said.

 

Source: Argusmedia