Localities ramp up efforts to boost summer consumption

People walk at a pedestrian street near Shichahai scenic area in Beijing, capital of China, July 30, 2025. Beijing has vigorously developed its night economy since the beginning of this summer, featuring local cuisine, outdoor films, music festivals, and night markets. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Various Chinese localities, including Shanghai, are intensifying efforts to stimulate the consumer market during the summer consumption peak, with some distributing coupons for cultural consumption and others holding various consumption-boosting events, according to reports on Thursday.

An expert said on Thursday that Chinese consumers still hold vast untapped spending potential, which will further support the country's steady economic growth.

Starting on Friday, the Shanghai municipal government will distribute cultural consumption vouchers in two rounds through October 11 to audiences nationwide attending performances in Shanghai. These vouchers could cover activities in fields including drama, opera, dance drama and puppet shows, according to an article on the official website of the Shanghai municipal government.

On Saturday, Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei Province, will unveil its local football super league. To further trigger consumer spending, the local sports bureau is distributing sports vouchers totaling 1 million yuan ($139,381) in batches, according to media reports.

Even without coupons, travelers nationwide are flocking to cooler destinations as their preferred summer getaways. Fliggy data showed that destinations like Urumqi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, and Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, remain highly popular.

This summer vacation, China's consumer market is experiencing a powerful upswing as commerce, tourism, cultural activities, and sports seamlessly intersect. From coastal resorts to urban night markets, the surge in consumer activity is transforming cities into vibrant hubs of summer economic vitality.

Beijing resident Zhou Bei is making the most of her travels this summer. After returning from South Korea, she stopped in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, before heading to Guiyang for two concerts this weekend. But her trip doesn't end there - she's also planning a visit to Anshun, Guizhou, to see the breathtaking Huangguoshu Waterfall.

"It's the perfect opportunity to explore more cities in the region while catching the concert," Zhou told the Global Times on Thursday.

This year's nationwide consumption drive has seen intensified efforts across all regions - from east to west and north to south - through improved consumption environments and enriched consumption scenarios, Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Tian said that a diverse range of consumption offerings will unlock spending and revitalize market activity. "By fostering deeper integration between culture and tourism at the consumption level, we can effectively stimulate demand and create a more robust domestic market," he said.

This consumption boom comes as part of a nationwide push to boost spending. He Yongqian, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, announced in July that China plans to continue the "Shop in China" promotional series through coordinated efforts with relevant departments.

The focus includes fostering deeper integration across the commerce, tourism, culture, sports and healthcare sectors to create innovative consumption experiences that will sustain summer spending, He said.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been running a campaign in July and August featuring diverse seasonal cultural and tourism offerings tailored to summer trends.

The initiative includes coastal getaways, live performances, exhibitions, shopping festivals, family-friendly entertainment, and nighttime events. More than 4,300 themed activities - totaling nearly 39,000 individual sessions - are planned across the country.

These coordinated measures, supported by macroeconomic policies, have yielded clear results, with June consumption figures showing a marked growth compared with earlier this year, Tian said.

Retail sales, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, expanded 5 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The pace was 0.4 percentage points faster than the growth recorded in the first quarter.

In June, retail sales reached 4.2287 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8 percent, the NBS said.

The consumption recovery was a key contributor to China's 5.3 percent GDP growth in the first half of 2025, demonstrating how targeted policy support and quality upgrades are effectively stimulating market vitality, Tian added.

"China's consumer market retains substantial untapped potential that will continue to fuel GDP expansion," Tian noted.

To further stimulate consumption, for the first time, China's central government will provide interest subsidies on consumer loans to individuals and businesses in the consumer services sector, part of a broader policy package aimed at revitalizing domestic demand.

Three government departments on Tuesday announced a plan to provide subsidies on qualified personal consumer loans with a maximum of 3,000 yuan per person.