Category:News & Society
Location:China
Duration:
Published:September 22 , 2014 , 09:26
Aspect Ratio:720x576
Languages:English
Restrictions:Web
Link to Footage: BON
Keywords:holiday, vacation
China has shut down an office, tasked with scheduling its national holidays, and has given responsibility to a more senior group of officials. This, in hopes of ending controversy over the vacation schedule.
TITLE: National holiday office closed
STORY: Since Monday, the functions of the 14-year-old National Holiday Office have been incorporated into a higher ministerial joint conference presided over by Vice Premier Wang Yang. Headed by the director of the China National Tourism Administration, the NHS was a ministerial coordinating conference. Holiday plans were typically made after meetings among 17 government ministries. In recent years, the office has attracted criticism for awkwardly pieced-together holidays. When Chinese lunar holidays fell mid-week, the NHS tended to create longer holidays around them, and make people work weekends in exchange for the time off. Many complained that the system crushed their dreams of quality leisure time. In 1999, the "Golden-week Holiday" was put into practice to tap the potential of the tourism market. It placed new requirements on tourism management, and the NHS was born the following year. Fresh outrage erupted earlier this year, when the NHS announced that people would have to work on the eve of Lunar New Year. The public lashed the decision, with some critics proposing to inundate the office with calls on the day, to see if the staff there were working themselves. Analysts say the new institution will be more efficient, as it will see coordination among more ministries. They say it’s something that is essential for an industry like tourism that involves lots of disparate aspects. They add that the conference will also play a positive role in realizing paid vacations, which will help meet people's travel needs, and relieve pressure during Golden Week. Eighty percent of people surveyed by travel site Ctrip.com said they prefer to travel during paid vacations instead of national holidays.