China Business

Oct 28, 2005

Officials to keep Golden Week holidays

BEIJING - Sources from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) said the Golden Week holiday system would remain unchanged despite several problems during the system's seven years of operation. The decision came in a meeting of the tourism group during the 2005 National Holiday Golden Week October 8.

Based on recent developments, officials still believe there are more benefits than harm from the Golden Week holidays, said

Zhang Xiqin, CNTA deputy director.

The office responsible for holiday affairs claims that just 171 complaints were dealt with during the 2005 National Holiday Golden Week, down 59% year on year.

Yet due to emerging problems during the seven years of the Golden Week system - in which the entire working population receives weeklong holidays three times a year - widespread doubts have been expressed, with some saying the arrangement ought to be canceled because of transportation bottlenecks and overloaded tourist attractions.

They argue that a system of annual leave with pay should be widely adopted in order to allow people to take holidays any time throughout the year.

Yet officials maintain that as many as 64% of respondents still say that Golden Week holidays provide more benefit than harm to their lives, adding that the events are an indispensable part of their lives because family members can get together for fun after lengthy work and study periods.

Experts point out that it will be difficult now for Chinese people to go without public holidays like Golden Week holidays because it already considered a tradition. Moreover, the annual leave with pay system is not well established enough to take the place of Golden Week holidays.

Still, a chinadaily.com.cn poll found that more than 75% of readers say the system should be scrapped, and just 16% want it to stay. That indicates the authorities' polling may be outdated.

CNTA officials say they are aware of the problems, noting that as many as 110 million people were entertained in tourism sites all over the country during this year's National Holiday Golden Week, an annual increase of 10.5%. To tackle overcrowding, they are calling for more improvement of public facilities.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

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