1999年，为了应对亚洲金融危机，我国启动了长达7天的“五一”和“十一”黄金周假期，以拉动内需，刺激经济。2008年，在一片争议声中，长达7天的“五一”黄金周正式“瘦身”为3天短假期。在金融危机席卷全球，经济低迷的情况下“五一”黄金周再次成为人们热议话题。全国政协委员、原国家旅游局副局长张希钦在全国政协小组讨论中提议，应该恢复“五一”黄金周。据人民网进行的一次在线调查显示，有92.2％的人赞成恢复“五一”黄金周。国家旅游局新闻发言人刘晓军称，国家旅游局尚未对其可行性做相关研究，如果地方政府认为恢复 “五一”黄金周有利于当地经济发展，可以试点。

A deputy's proposal to resume the seven-day Labor¹ Day Golden Week holiday has sparked heated debate online as well as in the ongoing² sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and National People's Congress (NPC).

"We need a weeklong holiday at some point during nearly half a year's hard work, because having three days off doesn't afford enough time for long-distance travel," 27-year-old Beijinger Su Jun said yesterday.

"It is so hard to ask the boss for paid leave in the face of the global economic crisis."

She was also worried her travel-mates could not get paid leave at the same time as her.

Su was one of 5 million who voted in an online poll that www.people.com.cn revealed on Wednesday in which 92.2 percent of respondents supported the resumption.

Former vice-director of the National Tourism Administration (NTA) Zhang Xiqin made the proposal during a group discussion of the ongoing CPPCC session.

He pointed³ out the seven-day Labor Day holiday could cushion the economic downturn by boosting tourism and domestic consumption.

China kicked off the May Day and National Day golden week holidays in 1999 partly to spur domestic consumption.

Then three golden weeks were cut down to two.

Three new holidays celebrating traditional Chinese festivals (the Tomb Sweeping⁴ Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival) were added last year.

The move was in response to public complaints of overcrowding on buses and railways, and at tourists sites.

However, NTA spokesman Liu Xiaojun said yesterday that the administration had not researched the feasibility of resuming the weeklong Labor Day holiday.

"Local governments could develop pilot projects to promote consumption according to their unique situations," the National Business Daily quoted him as saying yesterday.

Tsinghua University professor Cai Jiming, a holiday reform advocate, told the ongoing CPPCC session the weeklong vacation was never intended to stay in place over the long term.

The Labor Day holiday should remain three days long, Cai said.

"Canceling the 'seven-day weekend' cannot influence tourism revenues," he told the National Business Daily yesterday.

But NPC deputy Ma Yuanzhu, who is also president of a Sichuan-based tourism company, said resuming the Labor Day Golden Week could rejuvenate⁵ Sichuan's tourism industry.

The sector⁶ had slumped⁷ since last year's earthquake.