BEIJING -- Total passenger trips made during China's May Day holiday are expected to reach 267 million, representing a significant increase compared with the same period last year, according to official data.

The average daily passenger trips are expected to exceed 53.47 million, up 122.2 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday.

As China made notable progress in COVID-19 prevention and control, people's travel demand was unleashed during the five-day holiday.

Nearly 18.83 million railway passenger trips were made on Saturday, the first day of the holiday, marking an increase of 9.2 percent from the 2019 level and hitting a new single-day high.

The civil aviation sector handled an estimate of 8.66 million passenger trips during the period, up 173.9 percent from a year earlier and basically in line with the 2019 level.

The May Day holiday lasts from May 1 to 5 this year.