BEIJING, May 6 -- China saw a record high number of inter-regional passenger trips during the just-concluded five-day May Day holiday, the Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday.

The country recorded around 1.52 billion inter-regional passenger trips during the holiday that ended on Tuesday, a 3.49-percent increase compared with the same period last year.

Road travel remained the dominant mode of transportation, with 1.39 billion trips recorded, up 3.51 percent year on year.

Railway passenger trips rose 4.6 percent to 106.38 million, while waterway passenger trips dipped 1.37 percent to 8.49 million. Civil aviation handled 10.54 million trips during this period, down 5.74 percent year on year.

China's May Day holiday travel boom is driven by strong demand for tourism, family visits and leisure activities.