The New Year's holiday is now 4 days long.

New Year's Day 2026 will last for four days, from January 1st to January 4th, due to the swapping of Friday, January 2nd, to Saturday, January 10th of the following week.

On the morning of December 25th, the Government Office announced that Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra had agreed with the Ministry of Interior's proposal to swap normal working days with the following week's holidays, so that the first public holiday of 2026 would last for four consecutive days.

Under this plan, civil servants and public employees will have days off from Thursday to Sunday. The government encourages employers to adopt a similar holiday schedule for their employees, while ensuring full compliance with legal regulations.

New Year's Day holiday schedule for 2026. Graphic: Ta Lu

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Minister of Home Affairs to inform administrative agencies, public service units, political organizations, socio-political organizations, businesses, and employees about the holiday schedule. These agencies and units are responsible for arranging on-duty personnel and organizing work appropriately to ensure continuous service to the public.

Ministries, central and local agencies are required to take appropriate measures to encourage businesses to maintain production, ensure a balance between supply and demand of goods and services, maintain price and market stability, contribute to promoting economic growth, and practice thrift and combat waste during the holiday period.

Yesterday, the proposal to swap working days to extend the holiday received 62% support from over 76,000 online respondents conducted by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor; 38% disagreed. The majority of workers and union officials supported this option, but requested that the Ministry of Interior gather opinions and announce the changes earlier to allow for proactive planning of production and holiday schedules.

In 2026, civil servants and employees will have a total of 25 days off for holidays and festivals, including 11 official public holidays and 14 weekends or rescheduled holidays. Specifically, New Year's Day will be 4 days off, Lunar New Year (Year of the Horse) 9 days off, Hung Kings' Commemoration Day 3 days off, April 30th - May 1st holidays 4 days off, and National Day 5 days off.

Compared to many countries in the Asian region, Vietnam still has a low number of official public holidays. Laos has 12 holidays, Japan 14, China 17, the Philippines 18, and Cambodia 27.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/chot-nghi-tet-duong-lich-4-ngay-post301829.html