Tang Chuanyan
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays are adjacent, and many office workers have taken "3 days off and 13 days off" by taking time off, taking annual leave, etc. to go on a long trip. "Use the paid leave on September 24, use 3 days of annual leave from September 28 to 30, and the rest are statutory holidays and weekends." Mr. Feng from Beijing took a 14-day holiday and planned to travel to three European countries including Serbia. Reports released by online travel platforms show that some tourists maximize their vacation utilization by taking vacations. The latest booking data released by a certain platform shows that over 35% of users traveling in group tours during the National Day holiday choose to depart before the holiday, and many people "jump the gun" to avoid the first wave of Mid-Autumn Festival travel peaks. (See "Worker Daily" on September 27)
The popularity of "holiday travel" is not only due to the special nature of this year's holiday, but also reflects the people's high willingness to travel. This year, there are only three working days between the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day. Taking three days of annual leave can be extended into a holiday of more than ten days, lowering the threshold for "bridging" holidays. At the same time, with the gradual implementation of the paid leave system and the continued increase in cultural tourism consumption, residents' enthusiasm for travel has been further unleashed. Different from the "catch-up" sightseeing in the past, more and more tourists are willing to spend time on long-term and in-depth travel. Outbound multi-country joint tours, cross-provincial self-driving, and learning while playing have become new options. The characteristics of off-peak travel and multi-wave travel are more obvious.
The pace of society is accelerating, and people long for a complete, uninterrupted, and controllable time, where they can slow down and experience the scenery on the road and enjoy life on the road. Many people are also looking forward to taking a vacation with less worries, especially not having to worry about affecting their career evaluation and backlog of work at hand; they also hope that off-peak hours can bring real benefits, with more affordable air tickets and accommodation, and less crowded scenic spots. It is certainly a blessing to have a super long vacation, but many people are looking forward to high-quality vacations that can be enjoyed from being exclusive this year to being enjoyed every year, from being scattered to being stable, predictable, and covering a wider area.
To allow employees to dare to take vacations and take good vacations, the employer's understanding and tolerance are crucial. Units may wish to take a long-term view and allow employees to arrange vacations through a combination of annual leave, paid leave, etc. Before the holidays come, work can be arranged properly through advance scheduling, job backup, and reasonable handover, so that employees can have peace of mind. For matters that really require participation, instead of requiring employees to be on call at all times, it is better to build a more efficient remote collaborative office model, clarify work boundaries, and avoid vacations turning into invisible overtime. In recent years, some companies have taken the initiative to add paid leave and implement flexible working. These well-intentioned practices are worthy of encouragement. In terms of guaranteed leave, if the employer has more institutional arrangements, the employees will have less to worry about.
To enjoy a "holiday tour" to the fullest, cultural tourism supply and public services need to be upgraded simultaneously. The tourism market can develop diversified products and routes, combine tourism with cultural and natural exploration, and promote cross-regional linkage and "ticket economy" and "one ticket for multiple views." In the face of a prolonged passenger flow cycle, scenic spots and various regions must predict in advance, make flexible arrangements, and do a good job in traffic diversion, price supervision, safety emergency response, and consumer rights protection.
It’s a good thing that “holiday travel” is becoming more popular, but taking a leisurely vacation cannot just rely on personal careful planning. Only by truly implementing the vacation system, so that employers have arrangements and employees have confidence, can the value of vacations be fully released, and "on the road" can be more calm and enriched.
