China turns to school ‘snow breaks’ to warm up winter tourism industry

Northeastern Jilin province is the latest to announce the initiative, with plans to give primary and secondary school pupils a short holiday from Wednesday to Sunday. The additional days off will not shorten the traditional winter and summer holidays, the local government said.

Government agencies, enterprises and public institutions have also been encouraged to grant parents leave during the break, Jilin’s education bureau announced on Friday.

The new holiday is part of a wave of measures aimed at spurring consumption. Next year’s Spring Festival will be extended to nine days, making it the longest ever, according to a notice issued by the State Council in November.

In mid-November, Altay prefecture in the far-western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region announced a five-day snow break, running from Monday to Friday – granting students up to nine consecutive days off when both weekends are included. The region’s capital, Urumqi, rolled out the same initiative.

Local authorities across China had already permitted schools to add short autumn and spring holidays, following a central government pledge earlier this year to boost travel-related spending across air transport, hotels, dining and other sectors.

The three- to five-day autumn break, rolled out across many regions in November including Zhejiang, Sichuan, Hubei and Guangdong, delivered a notable boost to the tourism sector.