On January 29, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice regarding the issuance of the "Work Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation of New Growth Points in Service Consumption." The plan proposes cultivating a group of residential tourism destination cities (regions). It encourages qualified localities to leverage the guiding role of relevant fiscal funds and industrial funds to improve infrastructure in residential tourism destinations and promote the upgrading and renovation of existing facilities. The plan calls for legally revitalizing and making good use of idle rural land and housing. Local governments are encouraged to implement policies for digesting existing real estate inventory and support land use and service facility construction for residential tourism projects. The plan also guides qualified regions to develop specialized residential tourism market segments, fostering high-quality destinations and public area brands. It emphasizes strengthening regional coordination and cross-regional public service integration, supporting destinations in appropriately expanding public service supply based on market demand.
The plan mentions extending trial periods for unilateral visa-free countries and studying the prudent expansion of unilateral visa-free, transit visa-free, and regional visa-free policies. It calls for enhancing overseas promotion of entry policies and inbound tourism, accelerating global coverage of online visa application processes, and improving convenience for foreigners regarding entry-exit procedures and residence. The document emphasizes building inbound consumption scenarios, innovating experiential showcases for famous Chinese consumer products, and cultivating high-quality international events, performances, medical services, education, residential tourism, and wellness brands. It aims to create the "Shopping in China" brand, promote international consumption environment development, cultivate international consumption clusters and inbound-consumer-friendly business districts, optimize foreign payment services, increase tax-free shopping outlets, and enhance multilingual signage coverage and international service standards in public areas.
The plan further highlights strengthening fiscal and financial support. It proposes coordinating existing funding channels to support service consumption development and cultivate new growth areas. The implementation of loan discount policies for service industry entities will be optimized. Financial institutions are guided to increase credit support for businesses in new service consumption growth areas, reasonably determine loan interest rates, and innovate specialized financial products and services. Eligible enterprises in cultural, tourism, education, sports, and domestic service sectors will be supported in issuing bonds, while qualified consumer infrastructure projects can issue Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Consumer credit support will be enhanced, with financial institutions encouraged to collaborate with merchants in developing products and services tailored to service consumption characteristics.
The original text follows: Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing the "Work Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation of New Growth Points in Service Consumption" (State Office Document [2026] No. 2). To optimize and expand service supply, focus on key and potential areas, accelerate the cultivation of new growth points in service consumption, promote quality improvement and public benefit in service consumption, and provide strong support for high-quality economic development, this work plan is formulated.
The first section focuses on stimulating development vitality in key areas, including transportation services, domestic services, online audiovisual services, residential tourism services, automotive aftermarket services, and inbound consumption. For residential tourism services, it specifies cultivating destination cities, encouraging local fiscal support for infrastructure, revitalizing rural idle resources, and supporting project development through real estate inventory policies. The second section addresses cultivating development momentum in potential areas, covering performance services, sports events, and experiential services. The third section emphasizes support guarantees through standardized systems, credit construction, and financial support mechanisms.
All regions and departments are required to strengthen policy design, innovate support measures, optimize the service consumption environment, and formulate specific support policies as needed. The Ministry of Commerce will enhance coordination to ensure effective implementation of all tasks. This article is compiled from the State Council documentation.