China is considering scrapping two of its three annual "Golden Week" holidays and replacing them with flexible, paid annual leave for all workers.

The public is increasingly fed up with mob scenes and price gouging that result when virtually the entire nation is sent on vacation at once.

The two nationwide week-long holidays that may be scrapped are Labour Day and National Day. The third Golden Week is the Lunar New Year.

Tourism officials in Hong Kong, where mainland arrivals have mushroomed in recent years with the easing in travel curbs, said the change, when it comes, will be unlikely to upset anybody.

"It will have little impact on the tourism market," Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung said.

In any case, Chinese mainland tourists have already begun voting with their feet.

"The number of mainland tour groups visiting Hong Kong during the latest Golden Week holiday was smaller than on ordinary days," Tung said. Both travel agencies and tourists would welcome flexible holidays, he added.

Former premier Zhu Rongji launched the Golden Week holidays in October 1999 to stimulate domestic consumption to help offset the impact of the Asian financial crisis.

The State Council, or cabinet, recently convened a conference to discuss the feasibility of scrapping the holidays.

Officials of the National Tourism Administration, the Ministry of Railways, the Civil Administration of Civil Aviation and the National Development and Reform Commission attended.

Travellers have no shortage of horror stories about the holidays. Service deteriorates, they say, restaurants and scenic spots become unpleasantly crowded, and hotel room rates soar.

A recent survey by Zero Survey Net.com found that 44 percent of all city dwellers would prefer flexible holidays with pay. The preference was particularly strong among adults aged 18 to 39, singles, couples with children under 14 and couples who lived with parents, Xinhua reported.

Beijing Union University tourism expert Zhao Peng agreed that scrapping the holidays would have little impact on Hong Kong and Macau.

He said the disadvantages of fixed holidays have come to outweigh the advantages. As travellers became more experienced, they were more and more reluctant to travel during golden weeks.

(China Daily via The Standard November 20, 2004)