What to do about the pain of "Golden Week"?

What to do about the pain of "Golden Week"? The "Mass Tourism Era" is calling

We need both a "Golden Week of Tourism" and paid vacations

1. No Golden Week

In September 1999, the State Council decided to give three days of holidays each for the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day, which were combined with the two weekends before and after to form three seven-day Golden Week holidays. The purpose of the long holiday is to promote the "holiday economy", stimulate domestic demand, and promote the development of the tourism economy. In 2008, the May Day Golden Week holiday was cancelled. Since the Spring Festival Golden Week is mainly about going home to celebrate the Spring Festival, most citizens have no choice but to arrange long-term travel during the National Day Golden Week. Due to the high concentration of tourists, after the end of each National Day Golden Week, there are many articles summarizing the popularity and economic gains of the Golden Week and complaining that the Golden Week has become "golden porridge". "Baohuang" (that is, retaining the Golden Week) and " There is an ongoing debate about abolishing the Golden Week.

So, is there a Golden Week?

(1) Whether it works or not depends on the effect.

Since the implementation of Golden Week, various indicators have continued to rise. During the National Day Golden Week in 2019, the country received 782 million domestic tourists, a year-on-year increase of 7.81%; domestic tourism revenue was 649.71 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.47%.

So many people participate in Golden Week tourism, and so much tourism economic income continues to grow, which has effectively answered the question of whether the "Golden Week" is necessary.

(2) Correctly view the "Golden Week" phenomenon.

During Golden Week every year, there is indeed a "golden porridge" phenomenon. Scenic spots are overcrowded, traffic is congested everywhere, and service quality declines.

Why does this happen? Why do people still enjoy it even though they know "Golden Week" well?

1. The rigid demand for tourism is strong. Our country’s colorful cultural landscapes and water resources inspire people’s enthusiasm for tourism. Our country has entered a new era of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and moving toward a modern and powerful country. People's living conditions have been improved, their lifestyles have been transformed and upgraded, and leisure and tourism have gradually become the people's rigid needs. Our country has the largest population and the greatest demand for tourism.

2. The time limit of long-term tourism. Long-term tours take longer. However, the current long holidays only include the Spring Festival and National Day, and the Spring Festival holiday is mainly about going home to visit relatives and friends. Therefore, more people "see the same thing" and can only "squeeze" long-term travel during the National Day Golden Week.

3. ***There is a shortage of resources during the long holiday. Family tours and tours with relatives and friends are important organizing methods that everyone looks forward to. But there are only two long holidays, and most people go home to get together during the Spring Festival holiday, so long-term travel with family, relatives and friends can only be arranged during the National Day Golden Week.

4. Increased psychological endurance. First, be mentally prepared. Since the implementation of the Golden Week, although the people are dissatisfied with the "golden porridge" and feel tired and tired, they have become accustomed to it and are mentally prepared to "spend money to buy tiredness" before each trip. The second is the herd mentality. Following the herd and joining in the fun is a popular mentality, and people feel that where there is excitement there must be something valuable. The third is experience psychology. The process of traveling is the process of experiencing life. The huge crowds and busy traffic are also a special scenery and a special experience. Therefore, most tourists are "tired and happy", and they also relish the twists and turns, fatigue and even embarrassment of the journey as interesting stories, and go to drink this bowl of "golden porridge" year after year.

5. The supporting services during Golden Week have been improved. During the Golden Week for many years, service facilities have been continuously improved, especially "smart tourism" and "tourism Internet". Big data in the era of the Internet of Everything has provided dynamic tourism information and transportation guides, and the tourism market order has improved.

6. Adding Golden Week can also improve service efficiency and quality. Most of the service facilities in various places are configured according to the scale of the Golden Week. Currently, they are mainly used for the National Day Golden Week, and the utilization rate is very low in normal times. If the Golden Week is added, the utilization rate and economic benefits can be improved; it will also help increase the Golden Week service experience and improve service quality.

In short, the National Day "Golden Week" is not the fault of the Golden Week itself, but the shortage of supply during the Golden Week (only the "National Day Golden Week" is suitable for people's long holiday travel needs). Therefore, the Golden Week system not only cannot be abolished, but also needs to be strengthened to add a tourism Golden Week suitable for people's long-term travel.

2. Can Golden Week be replaced with paid leave?

At the end of 2007, the State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees" to implement paid leave, allowing people to take off-peak holidays and alleviate the Overcrowding during Golden Week improves the quality of tourism and leisure.

The desire for paid leave is great, but it also has obvious shortcomings.

1. Time is difficult to guarantee. The average vacation time for employees is about 10 days according to regulations. Normal work is "a carrot and a pit", and they are closely linked. If an employee takes a long leave, related work will be affected. At present, "white plus black" and "five plus two" still have unfinished work.

Units are generally reluctant to allow employees to take paid vacations, and private business owners are even less willing to allow employees to take paid vacations.

2. Tourism and leisure quality also have shortcomings. An important factor in the quality of travel is who the travel partner is. It is our country’s tradition to value family, collective, and family travel. It is not a staggered leisure trip on the same holiday. It is difficult to travel with colleagues and family members, and it cannot meet the needs of family, relatives and friends for leisure travel at the same time. When you go out during the working day, you are often disturbed by work worries, which will also affect your mood and quality of leisure. During the Golden Week, there are multiple vacation days. When traveling, "you can be accompanied by relatives and friends, without work worries, and you can play with peace of mind." This is something that paid vacations cannot do.

3. Influence the masses in doing things. Staggered vacation times, with Zhang San taking vacation this week and Li Si taking vacation next week, will also make it more difficult for people to do things.

4. The actual operation execution rate is very low. The "Regulations on Paid Leave for Employees" was promulgated as early as 2007, but it has not been effectively implemented so far. It is considered a "benefit on paper" and is in an embarrassing state of "only the sound of the stairs is heard, but no one is seen coming down the stairs."

5. Adjustments to student holidays cannot replace the role of Golden Week. In August 2014, the State Council's "Several Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Development of the Tourism Industry" pointed out that schools can arrange spring break based on actual conditions. We want students to travel with their parents and create conditions for employees to take annual leave. This is beneficial to students’ off-peak travel. However, it is not very useful for students’ family tours, because it is obviously unrealistic for so many parents of students to take time off to accompany them at the same time.

6. The 2.5-day flexible vacation model in summer is also "tasteless". In August 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Further Promoting Tourism Investment and Consumption", encouraging qualified places to implement 2.5 days of flexible vacation in summer. The starting point is also good, but: ① It has preconditions. First, the total working hours per week remain unchanged, which means that you have to work overtime at other times; second, it is summer rather than year-round, which is not very attractive. ② It cannot satisfy the desire for long-term travel. With so many weekends, short-term travel is basically enough, but what is missing is long-term travel time. 2.5 days is still not allowed for long-term travel. ③It is not conducive to serving the masses. How to adjust during this half day? The adjustment is unreasonable and inconsistent. Staff members have flexible vacations. Who knows which person will be "flexible" on which day when serving the masses? ④Many units, especially private owners, are unwilling to take an extra half day off. It can be seen that this half-day holiday is of little value, has many side effects, and is difficult to implement.

7. Social voices are mostly opposed to paid holidays replacing Golden Week. According to the survey, most people said that it would be better to increase the golden week than to count on paid leave, which is difficult to implement. The number of people who hope to add a Golden Week in May is as high as 80%.

Therefore, paid vacation cannot replace Golden Week.

3. How to correctly handle Golden Week and paid vacations

From the above analysis, Golden Week is a valuable unified vacation system, which is conducive to group travel and long-term travel by family members and friends. , not only touring the mountains and rivers of the motherland, but also enjoying family happiness, but the shortcoming is the "golden porridge" chaos. The paid leave system is conducive to off-peak leisure travel, but it also has many side effects and is very difficult to implement. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively consider and draw on the strengths of each, not only to increase the supply during the Golden Week, but also to increase efforts to implement the paid leave system.

Suggested solutions: 1. Directly add three days of statutory holidays. Combined with the adjusted weekends before and after, a new golden week is formed. The current average number of legal holidays in the world is 11.7 days, and in my country it is 11 days. Therefore, it has increased by 3 days, which is slightly higher than the world level and basically commensurate with China's overall well-off situation and its economic aggregate ranking second in the world. 2. Adjust from paid leave. If the additional three days is too much, the number of paid leave can be reduced accordingly by 1-3 days to make the paid leave more operable. In this way, it not only increases the supply during the Golden Week, but also meets the different leisure and travel needs of the people.

4. How to increase supply during the Golden Week

There are two loudest voices. One is to restore the "May Day Golden Week" based on "May Day"; "China Tourism Day" is the starting point, and "Tourism Golden Week" is added.

(1) Restore the "May Day Golden Week".

The "May Day Golden Week" was established in 1999, but was canceled in 2008. Leave the two golden weeks holidays of Spring Festival and National Day. Since the Spring Festival Golden Week is a traditional festival for family reunions and visiting relatives and friends, people's long-term travel is concentrated during the National Day Golden Week, resulting in "National Day Golden Porridge". For this reason, there have been constant calls for the restoration of the "May Day Golden Week".

(2) Added "Tourism Golden Week".

In March 2011, the State Council designated May 19 as China Tourism Day. China Tourism Day activities have been held one after another, which has had a certain promotion effect on China’s tourism industry. However, people have strong opinions on China Tourism Day being only a "promotion day" rather than a legal holiday, and people are not allowed to travel.

It is believed that "Tourism Day" cannot be a holiday for tourism. Firstly, the name is not worthy of the name and cannot win the trust of the people; secondly, the public cannot feel that "Tourism Day" is different from usual, which also affects the efficiency of publicity and promotion; thirdly, people who participate in tourism practice do not There is not much value in promoting the tourism industry. How to make it more effective? On May 19, 2011, when the first China Tourism Day theme event was held in Tiantai Mountain, Zhejiang, cultural scholar Xu Xiake suggested adding a "Golden Week of Tourism".

The newly added "Tourism Golden Week" is composed of: China Tourism Day 5·19 as the base point, 5·19 and 5·20 as the core, 5·21 as the auxiliary, combining the two The two weekends are combined into a new Golden Week featuring "tourism".

Why take 5·19 and 5·20 as the core? Because 5.19 is the first day recorded in "Xu Xiake's Travels in Tiantai Mountain", the opening work of "Xu Xiake's Travels", which is the opening day, and 5.20 is the day when Xu Xiake actually entered Tiantai Mountain, the place where the chapter opens and the first place he visited, that is, the day of his real first trip. . These two days come from "Tiantai Mountain Travel Diary" and are closely related to Xu Xiake. They are also the two most valuable days that are "indistinguishable" in the China Tourism Day campaign. The tourism golden week composed of this as the core has special value and significance.

Why use 5·21 as an assistant? Because May 21 is the "International Tea Day" determined by the United Nations, our country is a big tea industry country, and tea is a leisure, health and green cultural product. Combining "Tea Day" with "Tourism Day" can better reflect the characteristics of contemporary tourism, leisure and holidays.

Therefore, the establishment of a "Tourism Golden Week" has also received continuous support from the people.

(3) Comparison between "May Day Golden Week" and "Tourism Golden Week".

1. The most common points between the two: ① They are both in May, which is the most suitable season for traveling in the first half of the year. ②Participation targets all people. ③Participation methods are mainly based on national tourism. ④ All have received widespread support from the people. ⑤ It can be coordinated with the National Day Golden Week in the second half of the year. There are opportunities for long-term travel in the first and second half of the year, forming a reasonable Golden Week layout.

2. The differences between the two:

①From the perspective of history and development.

May Day is a traditional holiday. "May Day Golden Week" has a history and is very well-known. It was stopped midway and is now "restored"; "China Tourism Day" has not been established for a long time. The “Golden Tourism Week” is not well-known and is a new thing. However, new things are often more dynamic and are the driving force for social progress. Metabolism and advancing with the times are also the development trends of the times.

②Look at the source, nature, function and positioning of the festival.

May Day is set up to commemorate the general strike held by American workers on May 1, 1886 to fight for the eight-hour working day. Nowadays, every May Day is celebrated by workers in all countries. Its main purpose is to commemorate workers’ courage to fight and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. Therefore, May Day is a holiday for workers and a very political holiday.

China Tourism Day originates from "Travel Saint" Xu Xiake's "Diary of Traveling to Tiantai Mountain". As the name suggests, it is "a day for Chinese people to travel". Its purpose is to "strengthen tourism publicity, cultivate national tourism and leisure awareness, and encourage people to The masses participate extensively in tourism activities, improve the quality of national life, and promote the development of tourism.” Therefore, its function and characteristic is "tourism", and it is also a people's livelihood, tourism and leisure festival that requires more holiday travel than the May Day.

(4) Added "Travel Golden Week" to improve the functional layout of long holidays

Only by comparison can we distinguish. In the first half of the year, a "Golden Week" is added, whose main function is to increase long-term vacations that can focus on long-term leisure and tourism. Obviously, the "Golden Tourism Week" is more in line with the needs of leisure travel, and is also more in line with the nature and function of the festival itself. May 19th and May 20th are both days closely related to Xu Xiake's tourism. The "Golden Tourism Week" is established with this as the core, so that the people can remember Xu Xiake's great achievements in tourism and scientific research, enjoy the holiday benefits brought by Xu Xiake, and thus be more Many places are involved in tourism practice, playing the role of China Tourism Day more effectively, carrying forward the spirit of Xu Xiake, and supplemented by the 5.21 "Tea Day" effect, which will more effectively promote the development of leisure tourism.

A new "Tourism Golden Week" will be established in the peak tourism season in May in the first half of the year. In this way, there are three "golden weeks" throughout the year:

As can be seen from the above table, the three golden weeks avoid the hot summer and cold winter, and are distributed in seasons suitable for tourism. The functions of the three have their own emphasis and complement each other. Since the other two Golden Weeks are not focused on tourism, while the "Tourism Golden Week" focuses directly on the theme of tourism, more people will actually participate in practical tourism activities, and its stimulating effect on the tourism economy will be greater than the other two. Golden Week.

At the same time, adding a "Golden Tourism Week" will give citizens more opportunities for long-term travel, and will also moderately alleviate the over-concentration and crowding of tourists during the "National Day Golden Week" and alleviate the pain of "golden porridge".

In short, the addition of "Travel Golden Week" can make the functional layout of the long holiday more reasonable and "perfect".

5. Adding a tourism golden week and paid vacation to coexist and complement each other is the best choice

In summary, in the era of mass tourism, it is necessary to ensure reasonable vacation time to allow the public to travel. Golden Week and the paid vacation system each have their own advantages and disadvantages. They are not a life-or-death relationship that must replace each other, but a relationship that can coexist and complement each other's advantages. Therefore, it is necessary not only to add a tourism golden week, but also to increase the implementation of the paid leave system in accordance with the law. The two work together and complement each other to make the holiday system more "perfect". It not only relieves the pain of "golden porridge", but also helps meet the different needs of the public for leisure travel, improves the public's "sense of gain", promotes the prosperity and development of the tourism industry, promotes the domestic circulation, and makes greater contributions to economic and social development.

Author: Lin Guoqian (Executive Director of China Xu Xiake Research Association, President of Tiantai Mountain Xu Xiake Culture Promotion Association)