The Hangzhou Tourism Commission is promoting a combination of the three-day May Day holiday and four-day paid leave among tourist destinations in Yangtze River Delta, according to officials of the commission.

"We plan to resume the seven-day May Day Golden Week holiday by adding a paid holiday of four days before or after the public holiday, or by adding two days before and two days after the holiday," said Hua Yunong, an official from the publicity office of the commission.

For the past few days, officials of the commission have traveled to major tourist destinations such as Wuhu, Hefei, Nanjing and Wuxi to advocate joint-tourism promotion.

"Our priority for those trips is to establish cooperation with major tourist destinations and developed cities in the Yangtze River Delta to restore the Golden Week and boost tourism consumption," said Hua.

With tourist markets in various areas experiencing a downturn under the impact of the financial crisis, the resumption of the Golden Week would be greatly beneficial to tourist city like Hangzhou, Hua said.

But it is not necessary to formally apply for its restoration, since the tourism industry can extend the holiday by other means, he added.

Unlike Hangzhou, tourism authorities from Chongqing and Dalian are planning to appeal to the central government for the resumption of the Golden Week.

Chongqing has already applied to the National Tourism Administration of China (CNTA) to reinstate the golden week on a trial basis, said Tan Qiwei, deputy mayor of Chongqing. To secure its permission, the municipal government will soon deliver a report on this matter to the administration.

However, tourism authorities in Shandong province said they would not consider the resumption of the week-long holiday, because complementary policies are needed to be put in place if the application is to be filed.

Similarly, officials from the Shanghai Tourism Bureau said that they would still implement the three-day May Day holiday this year in accordance with the rules of CNTA. It is up to the employers and employees to decide whether a paid leave would be taken in May.

In a bid to stimulate domestic consumption by promoting tourism, China increased the official holidays for the May Day and the National holiday in October from one to three days in 1999. Together with two weekends, people could enjoy seven days off for each national holiday. So the two vacations were called the golden weeks.

Last year, the official holiday for May Day holiday was cut back to one day by China's State Council, or the cabinet, because of the problems caused by overcrowded public transport, following the spike in tourist numbers. People now have three days off for May Day, borrowing two days from the closest weekend.

But short breaks for three traditional Chinese festivals like the Tomb-Sweeping Festival in early April, Dragon Boat Festival in June and Mid-Autumn Festival in September were added, making the total number of public holidays one day more.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)