Nation amplifies efforts to boost consumer spending

China is set to launch a nationwide campaign to ignite consumer spending during the record nine-day-long Spring Festival holiday beginning Sunday, in a concerted push to funnel festive goodwill into robust economic momentum at the start of the new year, officials and economists said.

The campaign, targeting the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, includes consumer goods trade-ins, a prize invoice pilot program wherein consumers with valid purchase invoices above a set threshold can enter a lottery to win cash prizes and enhanced services for overseas tourists, to help domestic consumers and international travelers enter the festive spirit and enjoy great deals, they added.

"This Sunday marks the start of the longest Spring Festival holiday on record — a prime time for purchasing gifts, visiting family and friends, and holiday travel," Vice-Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping told a news conference on Wednesday.

Coupled with a series of visa facilitation policies and targeted international marketing campaigns like "Shopping in China", these efforts have packaged the ancient festival's authentic rituals and vibrant atmosphere for a global audience.

There is a huge rush among international tourists to visit China during Spring Festival, with flight bookings soaring 400 percent in the two weeks before the festival compared to the same period last year, data from online travel platform Ctrip showed.

Leading the trend are travelers from Argentina, from where bookings skyrocketed 900 percent year-on-year, while bookings from European nations, including the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, all saw increases exceeding 200 percent.

Vice-Minister of Commerce Sheng revealed that the country's 13,000 tax-refund shops for overseas visitors are already stocked with premium products, with the refund program offering foreign visitors shopping in China a discount of about 10 percent on their purchases.

Last year, the number of overseas visitors claiming tax refunds surged by 305 percent year-on-year, data from the State Taxation Administration showed.

"China has so many shops and there are so many styles available. It is really interesting to go around and check what Chinese brands provide," said Ekaterina Ermakova from Russia, who is visiting Beijing, adding, "I really love that Chinese people are very conscious about their culture."

The Commerce Ministry is also encouraging individual localities to introduce multilingual Spring Festival folklore maps, designed to help foreign travelers easily locate and access iconic experiences such as traditional temple fairs, time-honored brand shops, and intangible cultural heritage markets.

"We invite all to visit China during Spring Festival, to shop in China, and to join us in sharing the joy of the Chinese New Year," Sheng said.

Cheng Shi, chief economist at ICBC International, said that the influx of international consumers, who have higher expectations from product quality, brand diversity, service standards and convenience, will push the domestic commercial system to accelerate its alignment with international norms.

The improvements in the internationalized consumption environment are not exclusive to foreign visitors; they also enhance the consumption experience for local residents, thereby unlocking domestic consumption potential at a higher level, Cheng added.

During the holiday period, the ministry will also guide local authorities to increase the volume of trade-in subsidies across the nation, and implement the prize invoice program in 50 pilot cities with enhanced bonus payouts to boost participation.

In January, China front-loaded 62.5 billion yuan ($9.04 billion) of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds as the first batch of funds to support trade-ins of consumer goods this year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic regulator.

On top of this, Sheng added that a total of 2.05 billion yuan has been allocated by local governments for direct consumer benefits via vouchers, subsidies and digital cash red packets.

Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Orient Golden Credit Rating, said: "The Spring Festival period is a natural peak for consumption. These targeted measures are designed to amplify that effect, providing both the motivation and the means for households to spend."

He added that a successful holiday push would also set the tone for the remaining months of the year by bolstering business confidence and consumer sentiment.

Grace Tao, vice-president of Tesla, said that the scale and vitality of China's market are "unmatched" globally.

"This shared market is more than a destination for products — it is a testing ground and application arena for innovation," Tao said. "Feedback from Chinese consumers and the diversity of real-world usage scenarios have accelerated the maturation of our technologies and strengthened the global competitiveness of our products."