The government’s preferred option would have the 7-day holiday start on February 14.
Vietnam’s Government Office on Thursday announced the government is favoring a proposal that would have the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) break start two days before New Year’s Day, which falls on February 16, 2018.
“The holiday would start on [December] 29 and people would go to work from [January] 6,” said Mai Tien Dung, Minister, Chief of Office of the Government Office, referring to the dates in the lunar calendar. The holiday would accordingly be from February 14-20.
“We should not have a short break so public servants can visit their hometown, family, relatives and friends, but the break should not be too long either,” Dung said.
This option is the first of the two 7-day options proposed by the labor ministry in September. Under the second option, the holiday will start on February 15, a day before Tet, and run until February 21, the sixth day of the New Year.
Schools and other businesses across the country usually follow the same break as government offices.
The government approved a seven-day break last year.
Tet is a time for family reunions in Vietnam with droves of migrant workers flocking home before Lunar New Year’s Eve.
The labor ministry has also submitted plans for other public holidays in 2018.
Accordingly, employees will have a total of 18 public holidays in 2018, including three days for New Year (December 30, 2017 to January 1, 2018), one day for the Hung Kings’ Festival (April 25), four days for Reunification Day and Labor Day (April 28 to May 1), and three days for Independence Day (September 1-3).
Source: Hoang Thuy