Taiping International Airport in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province saw 341 takeoffs and landings with a total of 45,000 passengers, on Jan 24 alone since it marked the first day of China’s 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, Heilongjiang Daily reports.

About 60 percent of the passengers were tourists, mainly from Beijing, Shanghai, and southern China from Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan provinces, or the cities of Hong Kong, Macao and Taipei, or from Seoul, South Korea or Osaka, Japan, the airport reported.

It said that it opened two pre-boarding security checks to handle the peak season crowd and had 10 new self check-in machines in the domestic departure area with volunteers in red uniform standing by to help.

The Spring Festival is China’s most important holiday and centers on family reunions. It falls on Feb 8 this year and China is expecting more than 2.9 billion travelers across the country during the 40-day festival.