Tourists take photos at Yaobu ancient town in Liuzhou, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 7, 2025. In recent years, Guangxi has been continuously focusing on the upgrade of consumption experience and promoting the integration of cultural tourism and commerce. Various night fairs and booths have boosted consumption and injected vitality into the night economy. Photo: Xinhua
Cities in China will allocate over 570 million yuan ($79.56 million) in subsidies to boost domestic consumption, as part of the efforts to kick off the summer consumption season, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism will launch a nationwide campaign from July to August. During this period, regions across the country will introduce a variety of seasonal cultural and tourism products and activities, focusing on summer consumption trends.
Specific activities include coastal vacations, performances and exhibitions, market fairs, family-friendly entertainment, and night-time events. More than 4,300 themed activities, totaling about 39,000 sessions will be held.
Throughout the campaign, local governments will introduce additional incentives such as consumption vouchers, ticket discounts, spend-and-save offers, and discounted packages, with total subsidies exceeding 570 million yuan to improve affordability.
China is striving to develop itself into a super-sized consumption powerhouse on the solid foundation of a manufacturing powerhouse, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on June 25, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Li made the remarks when addressing the opening plenary of the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, in north China’s Tianjin Municipality.
China’s consumer spending in May recorded its strongest growth in nearly a year and a half, driven by supportive policies that boosted consumption and economic activity.
Retail sales of consumer goods, a key indicator of China’s consumption strength, rose 6.4 percent year on year in May, accelerating from a rise of 5.1 percent in April and marking the fastest growth since December 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Looking to the future, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said he expects new drivers of growth to emerge in China’s home consumption sector, but emphasized that more efforts are needed to strengthen consumers’ purchasing power and public confidence.
Global Times
