The Buzz | China’s big holiday travel season light so far
Efforts to dissuade Chinese from traveling for Lunar New Year appeared to be working as Beijing’s main train station was largely quiet and estimates of passenger totals were smaller than in past years.
Yesterday started the roughly two-week travel rush ahead of the holiday that falls this year on Feb. 12, a time when trains and other transportation are usually packed with migrant workers taking what may be their only chance each year to travel home and see family.
Failure to restrict travel before the Lunar New Year travel period last year was blamed for the spread of the coronavirus, especially since the central city of Wuhan, where the first clusters of the illness were detected, is a key travel hub that was used by millions of passengers.
This year, authorities have offered free refunds on plane tickets and extra pay for workers who stay put to dissuade travel for the holiday.
Officials are predicting Chinese will make 1.7 billion trips during the travel rush.
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