More than 380,000 passengers have departed Shenzhen over the past two days as the Spring Festival travel season officially began Saturday, the city's communication bureau said yesterday.

A total of 7.6 million passengers are expected to enter or exit Shenzhen in the 40-day holiday travel season by rail, road, air and waterway. That is a 9-percent increase from last year, according to the bureau's forecast.

The Shenzhen Railway Station sent off more than 51,000 people per day Saturday and Sunday - a 36-percent rise from last year that saw the station filled to maximum capacity. Most passengers in the two days were migrant workers and students, and the hottest destinations were Wuchang, in the central province of Hubei, and Nanchang, in Jiangxi, according to a source with the station.

Train tickets are selling out quickly. Although passengers can now book tickets for trains from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25, only some tickets for Jan. 22, 24 and 25 are available, while tickets for other days are quite scarce.

The Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport has opened all its 19 check-in counters, each of which can handle the check-in of all flights. A lot of flights depart before 8 a.m., resulting in a peak time much earlier than on ordinary days.

Air tickets for Jan. 25 to 28 have mostly been sold out, while many tickets before Jan. 25 are still available. Some flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Kunming can offer discounts.

A lot of air passengers in the past two days were tourists, especially those heading to southwestern cities, according to a spokesman with the airport.

The city's air travel peak will end before Feb. 9, much earlier than the duration of road and rail transport.

Coaches remain the leading transport means in Shenzhen's festival travel season this year, which saw off more than 200,000 passengers in the past two days.

Intercity bus operators will run an adequate number of coaches during the period, which will ensure the smooth delivery of all road passengers. The busiest days for road transport will start from Jan. 23 to 25.

People are advised to buy their bus tickets at least three days in advance. It is also recommended that they take buses operated by reputed companies, in order to ensure safe journeys.

Chinese transport departments have estimated the total number of journeys during the travel season to be close to 2 billion this year.

Chinese people greet the traditional Spring Festival as a very special time for family reunions. For years, the country's transport network was strained during the season, as hundreds of millions of migrant workers and other people hurried back home and returned to their work places in just one or two weeks.

Editor: Yan