Source: Kale Pictures Jia Qiong/photo
This year's May Day holiday has been finalized, from May 1 (Wednesday) to May 5 (Sunday) will be a total of 5 days, while April 28 (Sunday) and May 11 (Saturday) are normal working days.
This means that there will be 8 consecutive days of work before the May Day holiday, from April 22 (Monday) to April 30 (Tuesday), of which the 27th (Saturday) is a rest day, and the rest of the time will need to be worked.
However, this holiday arrangement has caused some controversy, and on social platforms, the entry "May Day is actually only on one day" rushed to the hot search and sparked heated discussions.
"May Day is actually only for one day" sparked heated discussions
May Day is approaching, and the topic of holiday will be on the hot search again.
Many netizens complained that after the Qingming holiday and the May Day holiday in April, under the "make-up holiday" mode, the "double holiday" for several weeks in a row became a "single holiday", and three "six-day shifts" were taken before and after the holiday.
Some netizens even turned up the comments of singer Na Ying in 2013 about the holiday: "I don't understand why this holiday is mixed with Saturday and Sunday, and it has to be moved...... The disruption of the rhythm of life is actually quite like a secretion disorder, can the students who make the holidays seriously consider our lives?"
Many netizens expressed their hope to have a normal holiday and a normal weekend. Some netizens said that they hope to be able to take a longer vacation without compensating for holidays.
In the poll "How do you want to take a holiday?" launched on April 12 on the official Weibo account of China News Weekly, the option "no holiday, but also a long vacation" had the most votes, with 11,000 votes, and the second option was "It doesn't matter how long or short the vacation is, just don't take the holiday" with 6,033 votes. And only 517 votes chose to "take a long holiday".
What are the pros and cons of China's current vacation model, and are there really fewer holidays compared to other countries?
Peng Han, chief analyst at ChinaTravelNews, said that it can be seen from the level of public opinion that the public has a lot of opinions on the "make-up holiday" model and hopes that the policy will be adjusted. The root cause lies in the fact that the "make-up leave" model does not increase the total amount of leave for everyone, but only demolishes the east wall to make up for the west wall, so that the public must "pay off the debt" after enjoying the holiday and make up for the working days owed. The orientation of this model is obvious, not to let the public really "rest", but to concentrate holidays and facilitate the consumption economy. So the public has a lot of opinions on this, and it is easy to understand.
In fact, judging from the public holidays of various countries around the world, China's holidays are not small. Excluding compensatory holidays, China's public holidays include: 1 day on New Year's Day (1 January), 3 days for the Spring Festival (from the first day to the third day of the first lunar month), 1 day on Ching Ming Festival (the day of the Qingming Festival in the lunar calendar), 1 day on Labor Day (1 May in the lunar calendar), 1 day on the Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar), 1 day on the Mid-Autumn Festival (15 days of the eighth month of the lunar calendar), and 3 days on the National Day (October 1 to 3), a total of 11 days, which is basically the same as most European and American countries. However, with the addition of paid holidays, the total number of annual holidays for Chinese employees is less than that of most countries in the world.
Xue Jian, president of a bank branch and an expert in the letter of credit group and factoring forfaiting group of the Banking Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce China (ICC CHINA), pointed out that for example, EU legislation stipulates that all 27 member states must grant all employees at least 4 weeks of paid leave in accordance with the law, so the annual paid holiday (public holiday + paid leave) in major European countries is not short.
"May Day" tourism welcomes the peak of bookings
There is a lot of controversy about the "May Day" holiday, and some people have begun to aim at the "May Day" holiday and make travel plans.
Data from a number of online travel platforms show that after the Qingming holiday, the "May Day" holiday ushered in a peak of travel bookings.
Qunar data shows that since April 6, the number of air ticket bookings in popular cities during the May Day holiday has increased rapidly, with the number of single-day bookings exceeding the same period in 2023, and the average price paid for air tickets has equaled that of 2023, and the number of passengers during the May Day holiday is expected to hit a new high.
According to the data disclosed by Tongcheng Travel on April 12, the popularity of "May Day" related travel searches in the week after the Qingming Festival increased by more than 7 times month-on-month. The medium- and long-term tourism and outbound tourism markets are growing rapidly, with significant growth in the distance traveled and the number of days traveled.
According to industry analysts, the number of travelers during this year's "May Day" holiday is expected to significantly exceed that of the past few years.
According to the Spring and Autumn Tourism report, after the full recovery of outbound travel by Chinese citizens in the second half of 2023, various innovative tourism products have emerged one after another to meet the international travel needs of Chinese tourists. The biggest change during this year's May Day holiday is that the number of outbound travel bookings has nearly tripled year-on-year, especially for European long-haul tours, which have largely recovered to 2019 in April-May.
Visa data from Ctrip also shows that outbound travel visas for the May Day holiday have increased significantly since late February, with a month-on-month increase of more than three times in the week after the Spring Festival, and a steady increase of 50% per week. Judging from the current number of applicants, the number of signatures during the "May Day" holiday has increased by more than three percent year-on-year, and the transaction volume has exceeded that of the same period in 2019.
It is worth noting that in the same period last year, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries did not exempt China from visas. Ctrip pointed out that on this basis, the number of outbound travel visas is still growing year-on-year, indicating that this year's "May Day" will usher in a larger wave of outbound boom.
According to Spring Airlines data, the current outbound flight bookings during the "May Day" period are mainly concentrated in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and other countries. On the one hand, with the change of seasons at the end of March, the corresponding number of international flights has increased, and on the other hand, the visa-free travel of Singapore and Thailand continues to drive the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists, and the voyages to China's neighboring countries are also relatively short, which is very suitable for the five-day holiday.
From the perspective of visa data, Ctrip data shows that the popular outbound travel countries on May Day include Japan, South Korea, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Canada, New Zealand, etc.
From the point of view of time, there are nearly two weeks before May Day, and many tourists are still waiting, waiting for a time to "get started" on the price.
Qunar data shows that as of April 10, the average price paid for domestic air tickets on May Day in 2024 is 990 yuan, slightly higher than that in 2023 and more than 60% in the off-season (March). Among the popular cities, the average price paid for flights departing from Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Tianjin is higher, while the average price paid for flights departing from Kunming, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Qingdao, and Zhengzhou is below the average.
However, on the Qunar platform, some flights on popular routes such as Beijing-Chengdu and Shanghai-Kunming have been upgraded to full price, while popular tourist routes such as Shanghai-Dali and Beijing-Dali have been sold out in economy class and have been upgraded to full-price business class.
Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, said: "This year's May Day travel demand is strong, and some routes will have the problem of insufficient tickets. If you don't have a clear direction for traveling, you can wait for the train ticket to go on sale on April 17 and try to pick up the leak. Low-cost tickets mostly appear in connecting flights, but you should pay attention to the transit time to avoid missing the flight, and calculate the price to include the infrastructure fuel cost of the two segments. ”
It is worth mentioning that during last year's "Eleventh" Golden Week, there was a big jump in air ticket prices 1-2 days before the holiday, and some passengers lost half of their ticket money before they traveled. Will this year's "May Day" air ticket price "take a big dive" before the holiday?
In this regard, Xiao Peng said: "The price of air tickets will be adjusted according to the actual sales of flights, and when the ticket sales do not meet expectations, airlines will reduce prices to attract passengers and increase the load factor." Judging from the booking situation of this year's 'May Day', it is difficult for the popular routes from big cities to dive in price, and only a few routes may be missed. ”
Train tickets on the eve of "May Day" are on sale today
Seeing that the May Day holiday is approaching, today (April 16), the day before the May Day holiday (April 30), train tickets are officially on sale. The May Day holiday in 2024 will last from May 1 to May 5, a total of 5 days. According to the current rule of 15 days in advance of railway tickets, train tickets for April 30 will be sold on April 16, train tickets for the first day of the May 1 holiday will be sold on April 17, and train tickets for the last day of the May 5 holiday will be sold on April 21.
The railway department reminds that the railway 12306 website (including mobile phone client) is the only official online ticketing channel for train tickets, so please be sure to buy tickets through official channels.
Every time there is a long holiday, it will be difficult to grab a train ticket, and the following tips can improve the success rate of ticket purchase.
For passengers who purchase train tickets online (12306 mobile app), first of all, pay attention to the starting time. Passengers need to check the specific time of ticket purchase according to the station where they purchased their tickets and prepare in advance to avoid missing the first time to purchase tickets. Passengers can open the official website of 12306, click on the "starting time" under the "information inquiry" column, and then select the starting date and starting station for inquiry. Second, be ready to pay. Payment must be completed within 30 minutes when purchasing tickets online, and if the payment is not made within the time limit, the ticket will be automatically cancelled.
The pre-sale period of train tickets is 15 days, in order to prevent passengers from missing the start time, the railway 12306 App marks the time outside the pre-sale period with the word "reminder", click "set reminder", and you can set an alarm clock reminder in the mobile phone calendar.
In addition, passengers who have not purchased tickets for the first time can purchase tickets on the standby through the "Standby Ticket Purchase" service function on the 12306 website and mobile app. Since 0:00 on January 11, the railway 12306 website (including the mobile client, the same below) has optimized and upgraded the standby ticket purchase function, increased the number of standby orders and alternative plans, expanded the range of waitlist order cashing time options, and temporarily allocated new passenger train seats to passengers who have submitted standby orders, which will further improve the success rate of passenger standby ticket purchase.
The first is to increase the number of waitlist orders. The number of pending waitlist bookings that can be submitted per passenger has been increased from 2 to 6, and a maximum of 9 passengers can be added to each order.
The second is to increase the number of alternatives. When submitting a standby order, passengers can choose 2 adjacent travel dates, and each date can choose 5 combinations of "train number + seat", up to a maximum of 10 combinations. After the optimization and upgrade, passengers can choose any 3 travel dates during the pre-sale period, and can choose up to 60 combinations of "date + trains", and each train can choose multiple seats.
The third is to expand the range of options for waiting order fulfillment time. The original cut-off time for standby orders was 2 hours before departure, but after the optimization and upgrade, it was adjusted to 20 minutes before departure, and passengers can choose to modify the cut-off time according to the actual situation in a wider range.
Fourth, the temporary new passenger train seats will be allocated to passengers who have submitted standby orders. When submitting a standby order, passengers can choose to accept the purchase of new passenger train tickets that meet their travel needs, such as the temporary addition of passenger trains by the railway department, when the tickets are on sale, the railway 12306 will automatically give priority to the passengers who have submitted the standby order, and passengers do not need to manually query the information of the additional train before purchasing tickets.
(WeChat public account "Caizhi Headlines" is synthesized from: surging news, daily economic news, Guangming Net, etc.)
Editor: Bai Jing
Proofreading: Fenghua
Review: Gong Zimo