Two cities in southeastern China’s Fujian province, Fuzhou and Xiamen, have decided to introduce three-day spring and autumn school holidays, with Xiamen’s spring break extending the Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day.They have joined dozens of other Chinese localities offering additional school breaks in an effort to stimulate consumer spending – a persistent weak spot in the world’s second-largest economy.The moves by Fuzhou and Xiamen, announced this month, coincide with extended public holidays nationwide. The central government had already added five days off this year as part of efforts to spur travel and boost consumption by encouraging people to take time off.“China has traditionally had a limited number of long breaks,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a research note issued in February. “As a stimulus, the government moved to expand public holidays.”The New York-based financial services firm said it expected domestic travel to generate cumulative revenue of 50 trillion yuan (US$7.35 trillion) in five years and for domestic tourism spending to account for 18 per cent of per capita consumption in 2030, up from 13 per cent in 2023.But big crowds can discourage travel. Simon Le Penhuizic, a 34-year-old Frenchman in Shanghai, stayed close to home during the Labour Day public holiday early this month and saw waves of tourists so large that he avoided hotspots near his home.