The Sustainable Tourism Development Foundation has submitted a holiday reform proposal to the government for scrutiny.
The scheme, which runs parallel to the reform plan prepared by the Cabinet, is claimed to be underpinned by studies on numerous national and foreign holiday schemes, ISNA reported.
Gholamheydar Ebrahimbai Salami, chief of the foundation, emphasized that the proposed scheme aims to organize holidays all through the year, to increase workforce efficiency, as well as to boost sustainable tourism.
"The plan rectifies the disarray prevailing in the official calendar, simultaneously preserving the total number of holidays through a year," he said.
In Iran, schools and government offices are closed on Thursday, while some private firms choose to operate on a part-time basis. Friday is the weekend.
As the official stated, the current plan suggests that Fridays remain the official weekend.
Furthermore, the random gaps falling between two off-days will be bridged, leading into a long holiday (three- to four-day-long holidays depending on the closeness of Friday), which might take place every two months on average.
A key objective of the plan is to include one multi-day holiday in each month and the off-days will preferably be designated on Saturday, Sunday and Thursday so as to better match the weekend in other countries.
"This provides families with an opportunity to plan a trip, reducing overtourism during other long vacations [like the New Year holidays, March 21- April 2]," Salami said.
The new plan will have a smaller number of holidays compared to the current calendar which will enable the government to announce public holidays in urgent cases such as air pollution.
"If the government does not use the potential holidays, it will be added to the employees' paid leave in the next year," Salami added.
In the proposed modifications, the annual working hours of employees remain as before.
Winter Break
The country's weekend schedule has recently come to the attention of experts and officials who have been trying to bring about a fruitful change.
Among them was the Department of Environment which drafted a proposal last year.
DOE's proposal shortens the summer holiday for students to allow a winter break for schools across Iran. It was aimed at reducing traffic and air pollution as well as students' exposure to poor air quality during cold months.
Although initially approved by the Cabinet, it never made it through Parliament. With the growth of pollution levels in recent years, the proposal has once again come up for discussion, especially backed by Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.
According to Ali Asghar Mounesan, the ICHHTO head, "the plan, which proposes a two-week holiday starting in early January, is not supposed to be a comprehensive one and is only to cover the school system."
The Education Ministry, which had initially opposed the plan for disrupting students' plans, has given it the nod, he added.
"It could even be reduced to one week if the ministry deems it necessary," Mounesan said.
If approved, the plan will offer a solution to the common winter-time smog in metropolises that compels the authorities to shut down schools for consecutive days both to help alleviate the pollution and protect children's health.
"The winter break would provide an opportunity for families to take a trip to the southern cities that enjoy warmer climates in the winter, thus promoting domestic tourism. It would also help distribute travel time throughout the year to avoid mass tourism in high seasons," Mounesan added.
Earlier Plans
The other proposed scheme, which never gained favor, was the scheme suggested by Iran Chamber of Commerce, which would extend the weekend to two days.
A two-day official weekend has been discussed in Iran since 2016 but has failed to gain unanimous approval by authorities.
Reportedly, the plan only sought to turn Saturday into a half-day, instead of Thursday. In other words, the plan did not propose the adoption of a complete two-day weekend.
The advocates believed that the two-day weekend will not only increase society's vitality, but also directly contribute to the development of tourism and consequently the creation of stable jobs and promotion of economic growth.
Opponents, on the other hand, claim that the reduction in working days will disrupt the economy. But global experience has shown that, on the contrary, it improves the economy by saving costs and increasing productivity on working days.
Reportedly, Iran is among the few countries to have set only one official holiday as the weekend on Friday, though many schools, universities and offices are either off on Thursday or operate on a half-day basis.
This is while such countries as Japan, Britain, France, Sweden and the US have taken a step further to propose a three-day weekend which is believed to be conducive to efforts to improve overall productivity as well as save energy costs.
