China is encouraging all employers, including government agencies, to give staff Friday afternoons off with pay during the summer months in a bid to boost tourism.
A State Council circular said yesterday that such a move would allow people to take a vacation using Friday afternoon plus the weekend.
The circular also said that China will build more tourism infrastructure, including cruise ports and RV parks, and give employees more flexibility in arranging vacation time to boost consumption.
Travel agencies in Shanghai said the move might also help to ease traffic congestion and overcrowding at scenic spots.
Currently, about a quarter of holidaymakers choose to start their summer break on a Saturday compared to 15 percent on a Friday, according to Ctrip.
Peng Li, a tourism analyst with the online travel operator, said: "The half-day leave will allow tourists to start their tour earlier, thus alleviate the traffic and reception pressure of scenic spots and improve tourism quality and experience."
But he said that full implementation of guaranteed paid leave and more public holidays were the keys to solving the disparity between supply and demand in the tourism market.
Chinese people don't have many holidays and many don't enjoy flexibly in arranging their travel plans, he said, leading to traffic congestion and overcrowding.
On August 1, Qingcheng Mountain in southwestern Sichuan Province had to turn tourists away after the World Heritage site reached its maximum daily capacity of 32,000.
Jiuzhaigou Valley in Sichuan, an attraction famous for its colorful water pools, snowy mountains, deep valleys and forests, had to control admissions a day later after the number of travelers there reached 41,000, its maximum capacity.
Yading Nature Reserve in Sichuan also had similar problems as it only lets in 5,100 people a day between August 4 and 15.
A China National Tourism Administration official, who was not named, told The Beijing News that unreasonable holiday arrangements were to blame for such overcrowding.
During holidays, particularly the seven-day National Day holiday in October, the number of people at scenic spots adversely affects people's enjoyment while at other times the attractions were idle, the official said.
The Shanghai Spring Tour agency said it expected the State Council circular to boost tourism and it would develop more short-distance tour packages
The circular also asked employers to guarantee paid holidays and encouraged companies to stagger annual leave.
It also mentioned airport construction, improved tourism centers, and a crackdown on price cheating and false advertising.
"Boosting investment and consumption for tourism is of great importance to improving quality of life and developing modern services," the document noted.
A report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year said that China should have longer holidays.
It suggested adding two to six days of public holidays and also called for extending the seven-day Spring Festival holiday and restoring the May Day holiday, reduced to three days in 2008, to a week.
In a poll on news portal sina.com which attracted more than 22,000 votes, 96.9 percent favored extending the Spring Festival holiday while 86.8 percent wanted the May Day holiday to be a week once again.
