This year's Spring Festival travel rush has seen a shift away from the typical outgoing trips, with big cities including Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province becoming not only busy departure cities but popular arrival destinations, according to local railway operators.

In the first three days of the annual travel rush, which began on Monday, nearly four million passengers departed from Guangdong, while about 2.84 million arrived in the province, according to China Railway Guangzhou Group.

As of Wednesday, the railway group, based in Guangzhou, transported 5.62 million passengers.

Discounted ticket prices are now available on 72 trains across eight routes connecting Guangdong to Beijing, Guizhou province, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in response to local authorities' initiative to promote cultural and tourism development during the Spring Festival holiday.

Passengers can book discounted tickets online through the railway operator's official website or app, or in person at railway stations.

Guan Jinghuan contributed to this story.