China removes holiday scheduling office in system revamp  

全国假日办运行14年撤销 设旅游工作部际联席会议

运行14年后，全国假日旅游部际协调会议于昨日正式撤销，其全部职能并入新设机构国务院旅游工作部际联席会议制度之中。昨日，中国政府网发布消息称，国务院已批准建立国务院旅游工作部际联席会议制度。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- China's holiday scheduling department has been closed and a senior government official has been appointed to helm the country's contentious public holiday arrangements.

For the past 14 years, public holiday plans were made at meetings of several government ministers, convened by the head of the National Tourism Administration. Holiday plans were announced several weeks before the start of the year by what was commonly known as the "holiday scheduling office."

The government has removed that system and replaced it with a senior joint meeting to be presided over by Vice Premier Wang Yang.

The deputy conveners of the team will be headed by Bi Jingquan, deputy secretary-general of the State Council. More government departments are included in the new system, bringing the total number to 28.

Mainland China's public holidays usually swap weekends with weekdays to create longer vacation periods, but this also results in longer workweeks before or after holidays. In a poll conducted by the scheduling office last October, 82.2 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with the current holiday arrangement.

Further public outrage occurred last December, when the office excluded Lunar New Year's Eve from the official holiday schedule for 2014.

Cai Jiming, a professor at Tsinghua University, said the priority for the new system is to arrange holidays that satisfy the public.

The central government introduced an annual week-long "golden holiday" in 1999, as a way to boost mainland consumer spending and fuel economic growth, Cai said.

However, mass holiday travel movements have not only sucked the fun and relaxation out of trips, but also put unbearable pressure on the country's transportation system and tourist sites, he added.