CHINA is encouraging all employers, including government agencies, to give staff Friday afternoons off with pay during the summer months in a bid to boost tourism.

    A State Council circular said Tuesday that such a move would allow people to take a vacation using Friday afternoon plus the weekend.

    It also asked employers to guarantee paid holidays and encouraged companies to stagger annual leave.

    The circular also said that China will build more tourism infrastructure and give employees more flexibility in arranging vacation time to boost consumption.

    Around 1,000 camp grounds for recreational vehicles will be developed by 2020 and 57,000 toilet facilities for tourists will be built or renovated in the next three years, it said.

    Wireless networks will be installed at top tourist spots to give visitors free Internet access at some 10,000 destinations.

    To pay for the new construction, funds will be created and private investors will be encouraged to become partners in projects.

    More funding will be made available for the construction of roads and parking lots at holiday spots, as well as for new airports in Northwest China.

    Credit support for tourism firms and outdoor sports equipment makers will be increased, and more holiday destinations will offer tax breaks to increase spending.

    Tourist spots will target elderly Chinese, a well-heeled group whose spending lags behind that of the wider population, the circular said.

    The document also mentioned a crackdown on price cheating and false advertising.

    “These measures can help employees use their vacation time to travel more flexibly and avoid the peak traveling season, which would greatly ease pressure on the transportation, tourism, commercial and catering sectors,” said Wu Wenxue, deputy head of the China National Tourism Administration. “It could also tap the full potential of tourism consumption.”

    The lack of paid holidays has been blamed for overcrowding in many scenic spots during public holidays.

    A report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year said that China should have longer holidays. It suggested adding two to six days of public holidays and also called for extending the seven-day Spring Festival holiday and restoring the May Day holiday, reduced to three days in 2008, to a week.

    Tourism has emerged as a prospective new driver in China’s economy, with the government aiming to double leisure spending to 5.5 trillion yuan (US$886 billion) by 2020 from 2013.(SD-Xinhua)