Passengers leave Hangzhou by railway on Jan 28, the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush. [Photo/CFP]

As the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which lasts from Jan 28 to March 8, came to an end, the transportation sector of Hangzhou saw a recovery in travel flow compared with last year, local media outlets reported.

According to railway stations in Hangzhou, the number of passengers departing by railway grew 12.1 percent year-on-year to 5.04 million during this year's travel rush, about 60 percent of that of 2019. An average of 126,100 passengers left Hangzhou by railway every day, with March 6 seeing the highest daily passenger flow of 213,500.

A total of 4 million passengers departed from Hangzhoudong Railway Station, the highest among railway stations in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Statistics also show that passengers mainly consisted of migrant workers, business people, family visitors, and college students traveling from Hangzhou to the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Henan, and Anhui.

Hangzhou International Airport transported 2.34 million passengers during the same period, witnessing a total of 23,000 flights taking off and landing. This year's holiday passenger flow was about 50 percent of that of 2019.

Effective and intensified COVID-19 prevention measures remained the top priority during this busy travel period. To curb the possibility of increased COVID-19 cases, local governments across the country encouraged people to avoid unnecessary travel and to stay in the area they live during Spring Festival, which fell on Feb 12 this year and is also China's most important holiday for family reunions.