Local governments in two provinces and one municipality have released guidelines to encourage 2.5-day weekend schemes for employees to fuel consumption, chinanews.com said on Tuesday.
Provincial governments encourge longer weekends to boost consumption
The new pattern of short holidays, dubbed "Friday afternoon plus the weekend," was promoted by the State Council in August.
Since November, Hebei, Jiangxi and Chongqing have released official documents encouraging employers to allow short holidays starting from Friday afternoon.
China National Tourism Administration said weekly working hours still need to reach 40 hours. And the scheme, not compulsory, is determined by employers according to actual situations on the ground.
Liu Simin, deputy secretary-general of China Tourism Academy, said the flexible scheme may allow employees to spend more time with their families and boost tourism consumption. But the implementation of a longer paid holiday policy is a top priority, it was added.
An online poll on the topic attracted more than 40,000 netizens, 81.4 percent of whom say they are in favor of the new plan. But 14.9 percent think it is not feasible. Some are concerned it might be another privileged welfare scheme drawn up by government organs and their affiliated institutions.
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