Recently, China's Ministry of Commerce and seven other departments issued the Policy Measures on Promoting the Export of Travel Services and Expanding Inbound Consumption (hereinafter referred to as the Policy Measures), putting forward 16 specific policy initiatives across seven areas, including expanding inbound tourism consumption and facilitating inbound business activities.

Travel services (including tourism, study abroad, medical treatment, etc.) constitute the largest sector of China's trade in services, accounting for more than one-quarter of the total volume of trade in services. Inbound consumption is a vital component of service exports and an important growth driver for service consumption.

In recent years, China's appeal for inbound consumption has risen rapidly. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2025, China received 35.17 million inbound foreign tourists, an increase of 30.5% over 2024. Expenditures by inbound tourists in China on catering, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, entertainment and other items are counted as China's travel service exports. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the export value reached 393.98 billion yuan in 2025, up 49.5% year on year and 1.6 times that of 2019.

On the 20th, an official from the Department of Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce interpreted the Policy Measures, stating that the policy covers a full range of inbound scenarios. Tailored to different purposes of entry and consumption needs, it focuses on tourism shopping, business exhibitions, sports and cultural events, health consumption, education and training, among others. It launches a series of measures to "increase the supply of high-quality services" and introduces a number of new initiatives to "integrate consumption resources and promote integrated development".

The official noted that the Policy Measures propose building national tourism brands, strengthening targeted global marketing, and continuously improving visa policies to encourage more international visitors to "want to come to China" and "be able to come to China". Meanwhile, focusing on removing bottlenecks in the whole process of catering, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment after entry, a raft of facilitation measures will be implemented in payment, tax refund, communications, sightseeing, ticket purchasing and other links. These include optimizing departure tax refund services, improving payment convenience, simplifying telecom service procedures for inbound individuals, researching and promoting the provision and application of personal smart devices for inbound cultural and tourism consumption, encouraging various daily service apps to offer multilingual versions, upgrading foreign language services at key venues, and enhancing the convenience of reservation and ticket purchase for foreign tourists at popular scenic spots. All these efforts aim to improve international visitors' experience of "traveling in China" and "shopping in China".

来源：中国新闻网