Travel agencies cheer official holiday plan's two golden weeks

Chinese travel agency officials said that they are optimistic about the tourism market in 2014, after the government on Wednesday unveiled the official holiday plan for next year.

The plan, which includes 11 days off for seven major holidays in 2014, will support the tourism market, especially outbound tourism products, officials at major agencies said.

"The holiday plan is in line with our expectations," said Rao Tian, general manager at China International Tourism Service Ltd's European destinations department.

Travel agencies forecast that China's outbound tourism market in 2014 will be very active during the country's two golden weeks - Spring Festival and National Day - which have seven days off each, according to the government's plan.

Rao said that clients buying outbound tour products usually spend five to six days abroad at least, and that Chinese clients usually do not book outbound tours for holidays with one to three days only.

"The new plan, which keeps the two seven-day holidays, is very significant for the whole tourism market, even the global market," said Guo Dongjie, senior vice-president of Ctrip.com International Ltd, China's largest online travel agency.

The two seven-day holidays are the busiest times for the tourism market in the whole year, Guo said, with millions of people traveling in those periods in recent years.

However, some travelers will have to adjust their holiday plans, as some of the other holiday periods are too short for trips abroad.

Zhang Jing, an office worker in Beijing, planned to spend New Year's Day in Hong Kong with her boyfriend, but they had to cancel the trip.

"We thought New Year's Day would have at least three days off," said Zhang. "I won't be able to go anywhere with the one-day holiday, which falls on a Wednesday."

To be able to make longer trips during short holiday periods, some people are adding annual leave days to the public holidays.

Data from Ctrip.com showed that more than 50 percent of its clients traveling on New Year's Day will prolong their holidays by adding weekends and annual-leave days.

"Traveling habits are already being formed among some of our customers, and those people really want to travel during the holidays," said Wang Zhenyue, deputy director of the direct marketing center at Beijing UTour International Travel Service Co Ltd.

Customers are also booking their trips earlier than in previous years, Wang said.

For instance, more than 50 percent of UTour's travel products to the United States for the Spring Festival period have now been booked, compared with about 30 percent at the same time last year.

Next year's Spring Festival, which falls between Jan 31 and Feb 6, will be the first peak season of the year for the outbound tourism market, and travel agencies have already launched promotions for the period.

The number of clients for some outbound tour routes will increase 50 to 100 percent for next year's Lunar New Year compared with 2013, Ctrip.com said.

"Lunar New Year long-haul tour products are already fully booked, although prices rose about 10 percent on average compared with 2013," said Rao at CITS.

Almost all of the major international destinations are popular during the golden weeks, Rao said, as Chinese customers usually rush to travel during those days.