China moves to advance high-quality development of service consumption

BEIJING -- China will work to further develop consumer services to support high-quality economic development and meet people's demand for personalized, diversified and quality services, according to a guideline made public Saturday.

The guideline, issued by the State Council, set out 20 key tasks, including tapping the potential of consumption in sectors such as hospitality, domestic services, elderly care, childcare, entertainment, tourism, sports, education and training.

It also pledged to foster new types of consumption like digital, green and health services, create new consumption scenarios, relax market access, strengthen regulation and provide 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 like technology services and tourism, according to the document.

The country will also optimize entry policies and consumption environments, speed up the resumption of flights, provide diversified payment services, and study the possibility of granting visa-free entry to more countries, it said.

China will expand domestic demand with a focus on boosting consumption, and service consumption will be a major driver in the expansion and upgrading of consumption, according to a key meeting that set priorities for the second half of 2024 on Tuesday.

In the first six months of this year, China's retail sales of services increased 7.5 percent from a year ago, 4.3 percentage points higher than that of goods, official data showed.