More than half of Chinese public in favour of keeping Golden Week

More than half of people are in favour of a new public holiday plan to keep the Golden Week beginning on National Day on October 1, according to surveys conducted by the State Council’s office in charge of national holidays and major web portals China News Service and Sina.com.

Nearly two-thirds (around 11,000) of the 17,000 who voted in a China News Service poll held between November 27 and December 1 said they were in favour of a plan maintaining the Golden Week holiday, as well as the week-long holiday for the Chinese Lunar New Year festival.

More than 43,000 internet users took part in a similar survey on Sina.com, the No 1 news portal on the Chinese mainland, with more than 50 per cent (21,000) voting for the public holidays to stay the same.

The State Council Office conducted the survey amid growing discontent among the public, as current arrangements consolidating public holidays into single blocks around public holidays such as National Day has led to congested roads and overcrowded tourist sites.

The consolidation allowing the public a week-long holiday by moving around weekends during the past 14 years was aimed at pushing up domestic spending, but has instead resulted in mass exoduses by holidaymakers, straining the country’s flimsy tourism infrastructure.

In one notable incident this year, more than 4,000 tourists were left stranded for up to 10 hours and forced to walk several kilometres in the dark to catch shuttle buses out of Jiuzhaigou national park in Sichuan province on October 2.

As well as the most popular plan to keep both the week-long holiday during the Chinese Lunar New Year and the Golden Week for the National Day holiday, the national office has offered voters alternative plans which both keep the week-long holiday for the Chinese Lunar New Year, with one plan offering a shortened five-day holiday beginning on National Day and another plan offering a three-day holiday.

Some 20 per cent of respondents voted for a three-day National Holiday in the China News Service poll, while fewer than 13 per cent of pollsters said that they preferred a five-day long National Holiday.

However analysts said that better enforcement of an annual leave system for workers would be a better way of addressing public dismay over the holiday plans.