Cultivating New Growth Drivers in Service Consumption

In its latest move to boost consumption, China has rolled out a work plan to accelerate the cultivation of new growth drivers in service consumption.

In recent years, China's consumption structure has been shifting from goods-dominant to a more balanced pattern where service consumption plays an increasingly prominent role, said Kong Dejun, director general of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese people's expenditure on services has emerged as a key driver of China's high-quality economic growth. From 2020 to 2025, per capita expenditure on services grew at an annual average rate of 8.5 percent. In 2025, services spending accounted for 46.1 percent of per capita consumption, up 3.5 percentage points year-on-year, according to Kong.

The growing vitality of service consumption has been particularly evident in the ice and snow economy. From November 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026, ski resorts nationwide received a total of 118 million visits, including 1.255 million inbound visits, said Ai Yu, deputy director general of the Sports Economy Department of the General Administration of Sport of China.

During the same period, robust participation in ice and snow sports spurred related consumption. Total spending at ski resorts and surrounding areas reached 69.15 billion RMB, while the number of transactions reached 890 million, up six percent year-on-year, according to Ai.

Looking ahead, China's service-consumption sector is entering an important strategic opportunity period, with the potential to further lift the overall consumption rate and drive high-quality growth.

The role of inbound consumption is also highlighted in the work plan. Efforts will be made to strengthen overseas promotion of entry policies and inbound tourism, accelerate the global coverage of online visa processing, and enhance the convenience of immigration, residence, and overall entry for foreigners.

In 2025, the number of foreign nationals entering and exiting China via all ports reached 82.035 million, up 26.4 percent year-on-year. By the end of 2025, nearly 13,000 tax-refund shops for overseas visitors operated nationwide, and sales of tax-refund goods for overseas travelers surged 95.9 percent in 2025, said Yan Dong, vice minister of commerce.

More efforts will be made to increase the number of tax-refund stores, further optimize tax refund services, and enhance convenience for overseas visitors, so as to attract more inbound tourists, Yan added.

Given its linkage to multiple service-consumption sectors, the Ministry of Transport will foster new growth points through developing self-drive tourism, promoting the high-quality development of small- and mini-passenger vehicle rentals, and expanding night-cruise, yacht and cruise-ship consumption, said Liu Dong, deputy director general of the ministry's Comprehensive Planning Department.

Source: Science and Technology Daily