Millions of holidaymakers inch their way home as 'golden week' winds up

Major mainland cities felt extreme traffic pressure yesterday as holidaymakers making short trips during the "golden week" national holiday competed with tourists from longer vacations.

The number of passengers travelling by road, rail and air increased sharply as people made use of the last two days of the week-long holiday, which ends today, Xinhua reported citing the China National Tourism Administration and city authorities.

Major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which account for 42 per cent of passengers on the move, reported massive traffic jams.

The China Railway Corporation (CRC) added 324 addition trains to its 5,200 scheduled services to handle the rush of returning passengers on Sunday. It added another 418 temporary trains yesterday.

Tourist attractions across the mainland received about 25.7 million visitors in the first five days of the National Day Holiday, while many more people travelled in their own cars this year, Xinhua reported. Nearly 5.1 million people visited the main tourist attractions on Sunday alone, 3.2 per cent more than last year.

The tourism administration's figures were supported the by transport ministry's statistics: 450 million people travelled by car while 10.2 million travelled by water this golden week.