China will work to further develop consumer services to support high-quality economic development and meet people’s demand for personalized, diversified and high-quality services, according to a guideline released Saturday.
The guideline, issued by the State Council, lists 20 key tasks, including tapping consumption potential in sectors such as hospitality, domestic services, elderly care, child care, leisure, tourism, sports, education and training.
It also commits to fostering new types of consumption, such as digital, green and health services, creating new consumption scenarios, easing market access, strengthening regulation and providing more policy support for service consumption.
China will continue to open up sectors such as telecommunications, education, elderly care and medical care, and ensure the implementation of opening-up measures in areas such as technology services and tourism, the document said.
The country will also optimize entry policies and consumption environments, accelerate the resumption of flights, provide diversified payment services, and explore the possibility of granting visa-free entry to more countries, he said.
China will expand domestic demand with a focus on promoting consumption, and service consumption will be a major driver in expanding and upgrading consumption, according to a key meeting held Tuesday aimed at setting priorities for the second half of 2024.
In the first six months of this year, China’s retail sales of services rose 7.5 percent year on year, 4.3 percentage points higher than the growth of retail sales of goods, official data showed.
