How to Ease China’s Holiday Travel Rush

the Central Government abolished the national holiday tourism inter-ministerial coordination meeting in September， handing its functions to a higher ministerial joint conference. Therefore， what was formerly known to the public as the National Holiday Office was subsequently dissolved.

From its establishment in 2000， the National Holiday Office did a lot of work to ensure Chinese citizens enjoy public holidays and promote the holiday economy. However， complaints regarding its operations had also increased. From fueling a national travel rush by edging out weekends to make extended vacations to the much-teased holiday arrangement in 2014， according to which， the eve of the Spring Festival—the traditional Chinese Lunar New year—was surprisingly not counted as a legal holiday. While questioning its effectiveness in making peoples holidays enjoyable， many have pinned hopes on the newly established joint conference.

Higher demand

Bi Xiaozhe （Hunan Daily）： It should be admitted that the National Holiday Office made achievements during its 14 years of operations. For instance， under its influence， Chinese people have become more attentive to the right to take holidays. Particularly， the office helped to set up the “golden week” system by making special adjustments， such as placing workdays on weekends. The holiday economy has become a driving force to stimulate domestic demand and promote industries related to tourism and leisure.

Meanwhile， there are still many tasks left uncompleted. At first， there were two “golden weeks”—namely the Labor Day holiday from May 1-7 and the National Day holiday from October 1-7—but later the first “golden week”was cut to three days. After experiencing all kinds of problems and setbacks， the quality of these national holidays remains low. Scenic spots and parks are notoriously overcrowded during holiday periods， whether long or short， while highways are constantly jammed.

The new tourism ministerial joint conference， presided over by vice Premier Wang yang， will guide the countrys tourism industry as a whole. The National Holiday Office was led by the head of the National Tourism Administration. The new body is thus expected to do a better job.

Chinese society now values the quality of holidays more than ever before， with high expectations for paid annual leave. Since 2008， the country has formulated several regulations stressing the implementation of such paid leave. The new system is expected to play a more active and coordinative role in making holidays more diversified， ensuring greater enjoyment for the public.

Xu lifan （Beijing Times）： Once we develop a holiday model featuring regular and separate time off work， the public will be able to enjoy holidays at their leisure， in the real sense of the word.

Its clear that the governments holiday reform focuses on the establishment of a paid annual leave system， but the challenges ahead are clearly too huge to be neglected. First， employers will pose obstacles. The labor market is generally in favor of employers， and it may be difficult for employees to ask for paid annual leave. Second， the governments supervisory capability is quite limited. While there are supervisory mechanisms in place designed to punish those who neglect or deliberately deprive workers of the right to have holidays and time off， its difficult for the watchdogs to learn of all such cases. Third， the culture or habit of leisure has yet to take shape among the public. People tend to follow others when choosing how to spend their holidays. As a result， the tourism industry in China is operated in limited ways that prevent the development of diversified options for vacations.

Public holidays amount to 115 days—including weekends—a year in China， reaching the level of moderately developed countries， but public satisfaction is lower than in Western countries. It is imperative that we develop a more efficient holiday system.

Countries where annual leave has become an established tradition are mostly welfare states. The costs may be too high for many Chinese. But workers holiday rights can be effectively realized by the governments efforts to improve systems for leisure and holidays like paid annual leave， together with efforts within enterprises. Trade unions and workerscongresses need to play a role in balancing interests between employers and employees， so as to promote employees capability to negotiate with employers for legal holiday rights. Once their right to paid annual leave is effectively guaranteed， employees will be able to spend their holidays in a much more convenient and enjoyable way， and the overall tourism environment will improve.

ya Ting （Peoples Daily）： The difficulties relating to this issue stem from peoples higher demand for holidays. In the past， people were satisfied with a two-day-long weekend that was usually spent by having a rest at home. Today， in the face of higher pressures from work and a quicker pace of life， they hope to have paid annual leave in addition to public holidays. In addition， many young people working in cities live apart from their parents， and hope to reunite with the whole family more often. People are already fed up with rushing to overcrowded scenic spots during Labor Day and National Day holidays.

The publics elevated demand constitutes the internal driving force for reform. The development of the tourism market should not be limited to holidays. There is great potential to be tapped on non-holidays. The tourism ministerial joint conference operates at a higher level and works with more departments. It will find out how to ensure people can visit holiday destinations at different times throughout the year， ensuring a higher level of leisure and enjoyment.

diverse needs

Wang Zaoxia （Shanxi Daily）： With the countrys economic and social development， public expectations for leisure are becoming more refined. Although it did many things to help people enjoy holidays， the National Holiday Office was unable to meet peoples diversified requirements for tourism and leisure consumption， and thus its time for it to go. The Outline for National Tourism and Leisure （2013-20） issued by the Central Government pointed out that the paid annual leave system should be implemented by 2020. This precise timetable is a big step forward.

Meanwhile， the new system separates the publics holiday rights from the tourism industry. This shows that Chinas tourism industry is moving in the right direction and overdependence on the “holiday economy” is being addressed.

Su Wenyang （Beijing Evening News）： I dont think the reform aims to promote the paid annual leave system. While paid annual leave is a basic right for workers， holiday tourism is not. Most likely the new system only centers on the tourism industry， but will not take into account the paid annual leave system. Strictly speaking， this system is something the human resources and social security authorities should take charge of. The tourism ministerial joint conference cannot effectively manage to ensure citizens legitimate right to annual leave.

During paid leave， people can choose how to spend the free days. They dont necessarily have to travel around. They can visit friends， go shopping， participate in sports or even just stay at home for a rest.

As for the paid leave system， there should be a survey to show what industries and departments are unable to implement it and what the reasons are for this. Implementing paid leave should not be a problem for state-owned enterprises， civil servants， teachers， doctors， lawyers， police officers and so on. It has already operated well in most foreigninvested companies. The biggest obstacle comes from private businesses.