Zhang Xiqin, former deputy director of the National Tourism Administration (NTA) and member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Wednesday proposed the restoration of the May Day golden week holiday in a group discussion in the ongoing session of the CPPCC.

After the long cold winter people need a week long May Day holiday to get a proper rest, according to Zhang.

NTA spokesman Liu Xiaojun, however, said that the NTA has not yet looked in detail at the restoration of the May Day golden week holiday. If it helps to promote local economic development, local governments could try to restore the May Day golden week on a trial basis, said Liu.

According to Zhang Xiqin, the scrapping of the May Day golden week gave rise to a variety of conflicting views. The holiday could play an important role in stimulating tourism, which itself helps to expand domestic demand and spur consumption, helping in turn to boost the development of a large number of related industries and to increase employment.

Cai Jiming, CPPCC member and Tsinghua University professor, and one who favored the abolition of the May Day week-long holiday, is of the view that the clock cannot be turned back on the structure of holidays. The case that the May Day golden week boosts economic development is not proven. Reduced expenditure during the shortened May Day holiday doesn't necessarily mean that total annual expenditure is also cut. Cai thinks that Guangdong's plan to restore the May Day golden week only targets increasing income in the tourism industry. "Many local governments focus their attention on the wallets of the consumers," he said. "They just want people to spend money."

Zhang, on the other hand, believes that it will still be difficult to implement the annual paid leave strongly advocated by Cai.

Restoration to be decided by the State Council

Now calls for resumption of the May Day golden week are growing louder. But according to administrative procedure, only the State Council has the right to make the call. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) affirmed that the question of reviving the May Day golden week will be decided by the State Council.

Wang Qiang, deputy director of the Department of Economic System Reform of the NDRC, said that the cancellation of the May Day golden week was jointly discussed by the NTA and the NDRC. If the NTA has constructive suggestions now, it could discuss them with the NDRC or submit them to the State Council. Since the golden week was abolished only last year it is hard to see that it could be resumed in such a short time. Another NDRC official, Gao Liang, said the May Day golden week was cancelled to ease traffic and relieve the burden upon scenic spots.

Long term decision

Ma Yuanzhu, chairman of the Emei Mountain Tourism Company of Sichuan Province and a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), believed that resumption of the May Day golden week will be an effective measure to boost domestic demand, to increase employment and to revive tourism and other related industries.

The People.com conducted a survey: "Do you approve of restoring the May Day golden week?" By March 4, nearly 5 million netizens had taken part in the survey and 92.2 percent of them were in favor of resuming the May Day golden week.

Ma put forward the view that for the time being there are still difficulties in implementing the paid holiday system. Resuming the May Day golden week will not only help to guarantee people's holiday rights, but also ease the strain on the environment, traffic flows, and other resources during the Spring Festival and the National Day holidays.

According to Ma, resumption of the May Day golden week would not be merely an expedient act to alleviate the crisis, but a long term decision oriented toward future development. May Day week falls in the best season for traveling. If resumed and properly managed, the golden week would provide the tourism industry and other related industries in Sichuan and in the whole nation with a major opportunity for fresh development.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, March 6, 2009)