Interpretation of the Policy Measures for Promoting the Export of Travel Services and Expanding Inbound Consumption
Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, together with eight other departments—the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Health Commission, the National Radio and Television Administration, the General Administration of Sport, and the National Immigration Administration—has issued the “Policy Measures on Promoting Travel Service Exports and Expanding Inbound Consumption” (hereinafter referred to as the “Policy Measures”). An official from the Department of Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce has provided an interpretation of the “Policy Measures.”
Travel services—including tourism, studying abroad, and medical treatment—are the largest sector in China’s service trade, accounting for more than one-fourth of the total value of service trade. However, they also represent the area with the largest deficit in China’s service trade. Inbound consumption is an important component of service exports and a key growth driver for service consumption. In recent years, China has continuously advanced a series of measures such as visa facilitation, payment internationalization, and service standardization, introduced departure tax refund policies, and optimized the international consumption environment, significantly enhancing its attractiveness to inbound tourists. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2025, the number of foreign visitors entering China reached 35.17 million, a year-on-year increase of 30.5%. Various expenditures by inbound tourists in China—covering food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment—are counted as China’s travel service exports. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the export value in 2025 amounted to RMB 393.98 billion, up 49.5% year-on-year and 1.6 times that of 2019.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly proposed “expanding inbound consumption” and “encouraging service exports.” The 2026 Government Work Report further emphasized “optimizing the inbound consumption environment and building the ‘Buy in China’ brand,” while reiterating “encouraging and supporting service exports.” In earnest implementation of the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, has carefully studied and formulated the “Policy Measures” aimed at improving supporting measures and promoting China as a globally attractive inbound consumption destination.
The “Policy Measures” put forward 16 specific policy initiatives across seven areas: expanding inbound tourism consumption, facilitating inbound business activities, activating inbound sports consumption, boosting inbound cultural and entertainment consumption, broadening inbound health consumption, developing inbound education and training consumption, and improving supporting measures. The main features are as follows:
First, it covers all aspects of inbound scenarios.Based on different purposes and consumption needs of inbound travelers, the “Policy Measures” focus on various consumption scenarios, including tourism and shopping, business exhibitions and conferences, watching sports events and performances, health-related consumption, and education and training. On one hand, from the perspective of “increasing the supply of high-quality services,” a series of measures have been introduced, such as enriching inbound tourism product offerings, upgrading the quality and level of international exhibitions, supporting the introduction of international sporting events, optimizing the approval and management of commercial overseas performances, and encouraging the development of Chinese language education, thereby stimulating new demand for service consumption. On the other hand, from the perspective of “integrating consumption resources and promoting integrated development,” new initiatives have been proposed, including launching “sports event + tourism” packages, expanding “performances + cultural tourism” integrated consumption scenarios, supporting the creation of “international performance consumption zones,” and building international medical tourism brands, better meeting diversified consumption needs.
Second, it establishes a full-chain promotion system.The “Policy Measures” propose building a national tourism brand, strengthening global precision marketing, and continuously improving visa policies, so that more international travelers will “want to come to China” and “be able to come to China.” At the same time, addressing bottlenecks throughout the entire process of “food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment” after arrival, a series of facilitation measures have been implemented in areas such as payments, tax refunds, communications, sightseeing, and ticket purchases. These include optimizing departure tax refund services, enhancing payment convenience, simplifying telecommunications procedures for inbound travelers, exploring the provision and application of personal smart devices for inbound cultural and tourism consumption, encouraging various lifestyle service apps to offer multilingual versions, raising the level of foreign language services in key venues, and improving reservation and ticket purchasing convenience for foreign tourists at popular scenic spots, thereby enhancing their overall experience of “traveling in China” and “shopping in China.”
Third, it strengthens inter-departmental collaboration and coordination.Inbound consumption involves multiple industries, numerous links, and several related departments. The “Policy Measures” clearly emphasize systematic planning, enhanced policy coordination, and greater inter-departmental synergy. Key proposals include further optimizing the statistical monitoring of inbound travel development, promoting regional data sharing, strengthening data monitoring and feedback, improving digital service convenience for inbound travelers, and encouraging local governments to provide necessary support for inbound consumption infrastructure based on local conditions, actively creating an internationally attractive consumption environment.
Going forward, the Ministry of Commerce will work closely with relevant departments to strengthen policy coordination, guide local authorities in implementing these policies, conduct external publicity and interpretation, effectively expand inbound consumption, promote service exports, and open up new avenues for service consumption.