Railway travel in China hit an eight-year trough and a pandemic low in the usually busy summer season, according to official data, as fresh virus flare-ups curbed mobility and hit tourist confidence, reports Reuters. Some 440 million passenger trips were taken on China’s railway network between July 1 and Aug. 31, its lowest since 2014, data from China Railway showed.
It was down 4.8% from the 462 million trips seen during the same period in 2021 and 3.5% lower than the 456 million trips seen in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The summer is one of China’s busiest transport season, as families and college students travel to scenic spots and return home from schools. But COVID restrictions imposed in multiple cities over the past months, due to a virus resurgence, have disrupted travel plans.