5 cities aim for global consumption center status

Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong province's Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing have been taking the lead in becoming international consumption centers in China, and significant achievements have been made after four years of development.

As part of the country's broader efforts to boost domestic spending, it was decided four years ago that the five cities — four of which are designated as municipalities — would be developed as international consumption centers on par with global metropolises such as New York, London and Tokyo.

The international consumption environment has become friendlier in these five cities. Now, Beijing and Shanghai each operate more than 1,400 tax refund stores for inbound visitors, and the number of such stores in Guangzhou has exceeded 500. Sales revenues driven by tax refund shopping in the five cities accounted for 70 percent of the total nationwide, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

"The five cities have been focused on improving the level of convenience for payments, optimizing tax refund services, and thus attracting more foreign visitors to come to China and facilitating their shopping experiences," said He Yadong, a ministry spokesman.

"Next, the ministry will continue to help strengthen the building of international consumption centers, create an international consumption environment, expand the supply of high-quality products and develop diversified consumption scenarios," said He.

China unveiled a set of measures in April to further optimize its departure tax refund policy for eligible overseas visitors. In the first six months, sales revenues driven by tax refund shopping jumped 94.6 percent year-on-year, said the State Taxation Administration.

The five cities have been vigorously developing digital, green and healthy consumption, and actively promoting the debut economy. In the past four years, domestic and foreign brands debuted about 12,000 stores in these major urban areas, the ministry said.

Inbound travel has emerged as a bright spot in these cities. In the first six months, the number of inbound visits to Shanghai by overseas visitors reached 4.25 million, up 38.5 percent on a yearly basis. This summer, Shanghai plans to launch over 300 different kinds of events to further build itself as an international consumption destination, according to the local government.

"Inbound tourism stands as an important component of a country's tourism competitiveness. The popularity of traveling to China is supported by multiple factors such as the continuous development of China's tourism market, increasingly user-friendly infrastructure construction, and an ever more convenient payment system," said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy.

China's consumption market maintained steady growth in the first half, and it continued to serve as the main engine driving economic growth, said the National Bureau of Statistics.