The General Office of the State Council released the National Outline for Tourism and Leisure Development (2013-2020) Monday, setting the objective of having a paid vacation system in place nationwide by 2020, which will further push the growth of leisure sectors.
The outline encourages flexible vacation arrangements for workers and requires strengthening of legal aid to workers with regard to vacation time.
Workers with more than one year's continuous service have the right to paid vacations according to the 1995 Labor Law, but that right is just a legend for many people in China.
A survey report released on January 14 by tourism website lotour.com showed that 42 percent of respondents do not have paid vacations and only 33 percent can choose their own vacation schedules.
"Oversupply of labor and fast-paced working environments are major reasons behind the inadequate implementation of paid vacations, and the outline would be a key step to remedying that, but it needs supporting measures by labor authorities," said Yang Yong, a tourism professor at Shanghai-based East China Normal University.
The outline encourages the development of tourism services, the construction of leisure infrastructure such as parks and hotels, and the improvement of public services for the leisure sector such as transportation and tourism centers.
If more people take paid vacations, related industries including tourism, culture, real estate and transportation will get a boost, Hou Tao, research director at the Qunar Tourism Research Institute under tourism service provider qunar.com, told the Global Times Monday.
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