BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- An estimated 845.38 million passenger trips were made across China during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday, up 6 percent year on year, transportation authorities said on Monday.

The daily average number of trips reached 281.79 million, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Road trips accounted for 778.45 million, rising 5.8 percent from the same period last year, while railway trips hit 57.68 million, up 8.2 percent year on year. Waterway transport handled about 3.7 million passenger trips, an increase of 9.8 percent, and civil aviation carried approximately 5.5 million trips, down 1.3 percent.

The holiday travel boom was driven by the overlap of the Qingming Festival and spring breaks for primary and secondary school students in many regions, which boosted family trips and parent-child tours.

On Saturday, the first day of the holiday, the volume of traffic on expressways nationwide exceeded 62.67 million vehicles, including over 14 million new energy vehicles. This strong demand for self-driving trips fueled double-digit growth in spending on scenic spots, hotels and car rentals.

Returning home for tomb-sweeping and in-depth rural tours also boosted activity in rural areas, helping extend consumption from major cities to towns and villages.

To ensure safe and smooth travel, the ministry continued to exempt passenger cars with seven seats or fewer from expressway tolls during the holiday. It adopted tailored measures to ease congestion on busy sections and improve charging services for new energy vehicles at expressway service areas.

Transport departments across the country also increased transport capacity and extended operating hours around key locations, such as tourist sites and cemeteries.  ■