Policy in place to spur services consumption

China has rolled out a new policy package to further drive growth in services consumption.

Services consumption for better life quality is thriving in the country, while emerging types of services consumption are demonstrating broad prospects for expansion, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

The new guideline, issued by the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments, listed 19 measures to drive further growth in services consumption, a key orientation for advancing the improvement of people's well-being and for the transformation and upgrading of consumption, it said.

China plans to further expand the scope of its unilateral visa-free policies to more countries in an orderly manner while continuously refining visa policies for foreign nationals traveling to China, the guideline said.

The country will also boost facilitation measures in communication, accommodation and payment options to attract more overseas visitors, extend five-year multiple-entry visas to more eligible foreign nationals, and draw more international students to study in the country, the guideline said.

"Generally speaking, inbound consumption constitutes one of the largest deficits in trade in services, accounting for an average of 2 percent to 3 percent of GDP. The proportion of China's inbound consumption in its GDP is less than 0.5 percent, which also means there is still significant room for growth," said Sheng Qiuping, vice-minister of commerce, during a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

He added that in formulating these policy measures, the primary goal is to expand services consumption, with focused efforts to address the bottlenecks and challenges that constrain its development.

In April, China unveiled a set of measures to further optimize the departure tax refund policy for eligible overseas visitors, leading to the continuous release of inbound consumption potential.

In the first half of this year, the number of foreign nationals arriving at ports nationwide exceeded 19 million, up 30 percent year-on-year. Among these, 13.64 million people entered through visa-free policies, a growth of 54 percent year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration.

As of August, China operated over 10,000 tax refund stores nationwide, three times the number recorded at the end of last year. The Ministry of Commerce noted that in the first eight months, the number of travelers who claimed departure tax refunds surged 248 percent year-on-year, while the value of tax-refundable sales jumped 98 percent year-on-year.

"A growing number of traditional and popular domestic brands are joining the ranks of tax refund services in China, offering immediate tax refunds upon purchase for eligible international visitors, which have been highly favored by inbound visitors," Sheng said.

In addition, the country will step up the international promotion of its cultural and tourism resources, tap into the strengths of traditional cultural resources like diverse cuisines, traditional Chinese medicine, and cultural relics, and encourage travel agencies and online travel platforms to launch more featured tour routes suitable for foreign visitors.

In the Government Work Report delivered in March, boosting consumption was listed as a top priority among this year's major tasks.

Meanwhile, the government will advance efforts to upgrade the quality and expand the supply of services consumption. The guideline also noted that China will accelerate the application of artificial intelligence in services consumption and other sectors, empowering services enterprises of all sizes.

"We will further promote the integration of online and offline consumption, and encourage enterprises to create new consumption scenarios, enrich new consumption experiences and tap into new consumption demand," said Wu Yuetao, director of the department of income distribution and consumption at the National Development and Reform Commission.

China will enhance quality across various services sectors. The development of integrated industry-education training bases and public training bases will be promoted to boost the supply of highly skilled services professionals.

The country will also refine sound incentive and punishment mechanisms for trustworthiness in key sectors including child care, elderly care, household services and tourism, thereby offering consumers greater peace of mind, the guideline said.