One of the three Golden Week holidays will be abolished and several traditional Chinese festivals added to the holiday list, a source with the China National Tourism Administration said yesterday.
The changes have been worked out and are awaiting approval by the National People's Congress, the top legislature, the source said, confirming a report in chinanews.com yesterday.
The report quoted anonymous official sources as saying that the new holiday system will certainly include important traditional festivals, such as the Dragon Boat Festival (or Duanwu Festival) and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Insiders said that the week-long Labor Day holiday is likely to be scrapped.
The country has three Golden Weeks for the Spring Festival, Labor Day and National Day holidays.
Public opinion was split on the issue, according to a poll conducted by sina.com yesterday.
The voting, which attracted 70,000 voters by 5 pm, showed that more than half, or 54 percent, would like a change in the current holiday system.
About 40 percent are happy with the current situation.
Those who favored a change said the holidays cause a strain on traffic, scenic spots and the service sector.
"It's the busiest time in the year," Liu Jun, who works for a department store in Beijing, said.
Some experts proposed last year that a more flexible system be adopted to replace the Golden Week holidays but opposition has been strong.
Zhang Bonan, a public servant in Beijing, said the mandatory holidays provide him a chance to travel far from the city.
Almost all people wanted to have a day off for traditional festivals.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, an occasion for family reunion, is the most sought-after holiday among the five traditional festivals likely to be added to the list, with 84,000 out of 89,000 netizens voting for it.
It is followed by the Lunar New Year's Eve (80,000 votes), the Pure Brightness Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, (63,000), the Lantern Festival (56,000), and the Dragon Boat Festival (53,000).
The current holiday system was introduced in September 1999 to boost domestic consumption.
In the first Golden Week in October 1999, 28 million people traveled across the country, generating 14.1 billion yuan ($1.88 billion) in tourism revenues.
During the latest National Day golden week, the number soared to 146 million, with revenues reaching 64.2 billion yuan ($8.56 billion).
(China Daily 10/09/2007 page 1)
（英语点津 Linda 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing current affairs shows and documentaries.
