China Says Work Less, Cruise More

China plans to build 10 cruise ship terminals and is encouraging workers to take cruises in a bid to boost tourism and consumption within the nation.

Xinhua reports that China’s State Council released a document on Tuesday saying the terminals would be built by 2020.

"Boosting investment and consumption for tourism is of great importance to improving quality of life and developing modern services," stated the document.

All the country’s important tourist attractions and tourist cities should be staffed with professionals to provide tourism information by 2020, states the Council. Additionally, workers should be given more flexibility in summer so that they can take vacations using Friday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays.

The news has caused a stir online, reports China Daily, with posts on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social networking site in China, being read by more than 25 million people.

"Long Live Premier Li. This should be implemented immediately," said one person.
 
The State Council has officially promoted paid vacation for employees and is moving ahead with rules to make it mandatory. Currently, only about half of Chinese employees get paid vacation time.

China is expected to eventually become the largest cruise market in the world. From 2012 to 2014, the number of Chinese passengers grew 79 percent per year. In 2014, 697,000 passengers were from mainland China which is almost as many passengers as all other Asian markets combined (701,000).