Beijing will allow local authorities to reinstate the week-long May Day holiday in an effort to stimulate tourism spending.
National Tourism Administration spokesman Liu Xiaojun said local governments could extend the holiday if their economies needed stimulus measures, although the central government had no plan to do so.
The five-day May Day holiday was shortened to three days last year, while three traditional festivals - Ching Ming, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn - were created.
Public sentiment has been high recently for Beijing to extend the May Day holiday to encourage more people to spend.
A Web survey on the debate that was conducted between February 3 and 9 recorded 276,430 votes, in which 91.2 per cent wanted to see a 'golden week' holiday in May.
Late last month, Guangdong announced a travel scheme in which it promoted travel coupons and encouraged people to attach some of their annual leave to public holidays, such as May Day.
In a revised version of the May Day 'golden week' holiday, employers in Guangdong were asked to encourage the holiday arrangement if workers were in favour.