The reverse Spring Festival travel rush trend has continued to grow, as an increasing number of families gather in big cities for Spring Festival 2020, rather than travel back to their hometowns, according to the latest report.

Train conductor Qiu Shuping helps passengers get off the train No. 7505 at the Yongdeng Railway Station in northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 10, 2020.  (Xinhua/Ma Ning)

Congestion on highways during the Spring Festival travel rush this year may be the highest in the past three years, according to the Travel Forecast report of Spring Festival Transportation in 2020 released by Amap, a Chinese web mapping service.

From a national point of view, the migration population before the Spring Festival is concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Shandong and Henan.

Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing have the largest urban population migrating home for the Spring Festival.

In recent years, the reverse Spring Festival travel rush trend, which sees elderly people going to their children's city of work to celebrate the Spring Festival together, has been steadily increasing.

Nationwide, cities such as Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai are expected to see a sharp increase in the number of people arriving for the celebrations, according to the data.

In particular, the phenomenon of cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou emptying during Spring Festival may be alleviated.

The data report from Fliggy, Alibaba's online travel agency platform, also shows that the reverse trend has maintained an average growth rate of 30 percent over the past two years.