Aerial photo of autumn scenery at the scenic area in Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi province. Photo: Xinhua

Cities in East China's Jiangxi Province scramble to boost tourism by encouraging local government officials to use their weekends for outdoor activities instead of staying home starting April.

Government officials in Jiujiang city will have 2.5-day weekends to go out for sightseeing. Reduced working hours on Friday afternoons will be compensated for with longer work hours on other work days or by reducing leave days, according to a notice from the Jiujiang government on Wednesday.

A Chinese national surnamed Huang from Xinyu, another city that will adopt a 2.5-day weekend, said his father works for a public institution in Xinyu and will soon have more time off on Fridays.

"Although my father can go out on Friday afternoons, my mum, who is a doctor and busy, doesn't have time to go out. I currently work in Shenzhen so my father has to travel alone, which means he won't go too far," Huang told the Global Times on Thursday.

Huang said the nearest outdoor tourist spot is Fairy Lake, which normally costs nearly 300 yuan ($42.50) to visit, including a ticket, food, transportation and other consumption.

A staff member at Fairy Lake told the Global Times that until the end of April, the tourist spot will be free of charge. The normal entrance price is 145 yuan.

Alongside longer weekends, scenic spots like Fairy Lake will offer discounted tickets. People who enter the tourist spots on Friday afternoons will be offered half-price tickets, per the notice from the Jiujiang government.

Tourism is a major driving force of economic growth in Jiangxi Province. In 2018, Jiangxi's tourism accounted for 11.36 percent of its GDP, according to the latest data.

Jiujiang tourism contributed more than 25 percent of its economic growth in 2019. The city attracted 96.63 million tourists in the first half of 2019 and tourism revenues exceeded 92.06 billion yuan, according to data from Jiujiang's government.