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Govt. mandates new holiday policies
政府計劃推出2.5天小長假
The tourism economy is seen as China's new growth engine. The government aims to double leisure spending by 2020 from 2013. That's why the government has mandated a series of measures to make holidays more flexible.
It's summer time, and you don't want to be stuck in your office cubicle.
You expect a more flexible holiday arrangement to give you just a few days off for the beach. And here it is.
The Chinese government will strengthen the regulation on paid leave for companies. That means managers cannot dodge punishments if they keep their employees working overtime without paid leave as a reward.
"This time is more serious. The government has come up with detailed rules to regulate this area for companies," said Xu Guangjian, Renmin University of China.
Data by the Human Resources Ministry shows only half of the companies surveyed have qualified paid leave packages for their employees. Those companies are predominantly government agencies, SOEs and major multinationals.
Start-ups are heavily criticized for the lack of employees' benefit in vacation.
But there are worries that the new measures will fall short when it comes to implementation.
The economic impact is, however, significant.
China is creating investment funds and building tourist attractions from camp sites to theme parks.
The government expects leisure spending to hit 5.5 trillion yuan (around US$886 billion) by 2020. That would be twice the size of 2013.
