State employees will have four days off work to enjoy the upcoming New Year celebrations, in addition to nine days off in mid February for the Lunar New Year festival, known as Tet.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the measure at the request of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Usually employees have one day off on January 1, and four days off during Tet - not including weekends.

However, the first day of 2013 falls on a Tuesday, so the ministry proposed that Monday December 31 can be given as a day off and people will instead work on the following Saturday, which is January 5 - enabling workers to enjoy the new year with a four day weekend.

The dates for Tet work in a similar way this year, and the ministry suggested that a day off be given on Friday February 15 to create another long holiday. They will make up for the lost day on Saturday February 23. The adjustments have been made in order to give people more time for travelling and celebration which will boost the economy.

Last year, State employees had their work schedules adjusted to give them three days off for New Year and nine days off for Tet.

The Vietnam Railways Corporation will add 20 extra trains from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and vice versa during the forthcoming Tet holiday (Lunar New Year), bringing the total number of trains on the route to 30. They will operate from January 28 to February 28.