About 336 million passengers traveled by road and waterway during the Golden Week holidays, according to statistics published here Saturday by the Ministry of Communications.

Official figures show passenger road traffic volume increased 1.5 percent year on year to 331 million and passenger water traffic volume rose 15 percent to 5.08 million.

The ministry said short-distance traffic volume shot up during the holidays with more and more people choosing to visit nearby rural areas where infrastructure and tourism resources have greatly improved in recent years.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)