A record 9.5 billion passenger trips are expected during this year’s Chinese New Year or Spring Festival travel surge, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

The 40 day period between February 2 and March 13 is expected to see record highs in terms of passenger volumes for both rail trips (exceeding 540 million passengers) and civil aviation trips (exceeding 95 million passengers).

However, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, despite rail and air travel for the Chinese New Year gaining popularity, travel by road is still the most popular mode of transport for the holiday.

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Eighty percent, or 7.6 billion out of the projected 9.5 billion trips taken on the occasion, will be self-driving trips, according to Chinese authorities, with the rest taken up by other road transport.

The New Year falls on February 17 this year.

The year of the horse starts amidst a tough economic climate in China due to an ongoing property market crisis, low consumption and high youth unemployment.