On March 20, nine departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, released the "Policy Measures on Promoting Travel Service Exports and Expanding Inbound Consumption" (hereinafter referred to as the "Policy Measures"). The measures propose 16 specific policy initiatives in seven areas: expanding inbound tourism consumption, facilitating inbound business activities, stimulating inbound sports event consumption, boosting inbound cultural and entertainment consumption, expanding inbound health consumption, developing inbound education and training consumption, and improving support measures. These measures outline a clear path for improving and expanding inbound consumption and promoting high-quality development of travel service trade.
Experts interviewed believe that inbound consumption is the core carrier of service exports, effectively improving the structure of service trade and offsetting the trade deficit in travel services. Expanding inbound consumption can not only drive economic growth but also promote the international upgrading of domestic service industry standards and foster high-end employment.
An official from the Department of Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce stated that travel services, including tourism, study abroad, and medical treatment, constitute the largest sector of my country's service trade, accounting for more than a quarter of the total service trade volume. However, it is also the sector with the largest service trade deficit in my country.
The policy measures, tailored to different purposes of entry and consumption needs, focus on various inbound consumption scenarios, including tourism shopping, business exhibitions, sports and performance viewing, health consumption, and education and training. They introduce a series of measures from the perspective of "increasing the supply of high-quality services," such as enriching the supply of inbound tourism products and improving the service and level of international exhibitions, to stimulate new demands for service consumption. They also propose a number of new measures from the perspective of "integrating consumption resources and promoting integrated development," such as launching "sports + tourism" packages and expanding "performance + cultural tourism" integrated consumption scenarios, to better meet diversified consumption needs.
The policy measures also address bottlenecks in the entire process of "eating, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment" after entry. They implement a series of convenient measures in various aspects such as payment, tax refund, communication, sightseeing, and ticketing, such as optimizing departure tax refund services, improving payment convenience, facilitating inbound telecommunications business transactions, and studying and promoting the provision and application of personal smart devices for inbound cultural and tourism consumption, thereby enhancing the consumption experience of international travelers in "traveling in China" and "shopping in China."
