GUANGZHOU, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangzhou has handled a total of 12.14 million passengers as of Monday, since the Spring Festival travel season began on Jan. 21, local authorities said.

The city's railway has carried about 7.88 million passengers over the period, up 9 percent year on year, while the civil aviation sector sent about 1.68 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 7.9 percent, according to the city's traffic department.

A quarter fewer passengers have chosen to go home by road compared with the same period last year, while about the same number of passengers left the city by ship.

The department said over 600 pairs of trains, 1,400 flights and 9,000 coaches have been organized in the period to meet travel demands.