Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Promotion of Tourism Investment and Consumption

· Document Number：No. 62 [2015] Issued by the General Office the State Council

· Area of Law： Tourism

· Level of Authority： Regulatory Documents of the State Council

· Date issued：08-04-2015

· Effective Date：08-04-2015

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： General Office of the State Council

Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Promotion of Tourism Investment and Consumption
(No. 62 [2015] Issued by the General Office the State Council)
The People's Governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government; the ministries and commissions under the State Council; and the institutions directly affiliated to the State Council:
The tourism industry is a comprehensive industry in economic and social development in China, and is an important constituent part of the national economy and the modern service industry. To promote tourism investment and consumption through reform and innovation will be of great significance to promoting development of the modern service industry, increasing employment and income of residents and raising the quality of the people's life. With a view to further promoting tourism investment and consumption, the following Opinions, with the approval of the State Council, are hereby raised.
II. Implementation of the Plan for Promoting Tourism Infrastructure to Improve the Environment for Tourism Consumption
1. Focusing efforts on improving the soft environment for tourism consumption: Standards for the quality of tourism products and services shall be established and made complete, with regulation over the behavior of tourism operation and services, and with promotion of the level of management and service provision by tourism hotels, restaurants, scenic spots and areas, travel agencies, etc. The order of the tourism market shall be vigorously regulated and rectified, with severe crackdown on false advertising, pricing fraud, bullying customers, overcharging, cutthroat competition with extra-low prices, illegal “one-day tour” operation and other stubborn malpractices on the tourism market, and with further implementation of the system of recordation of uncivilized acts of tourists. Mechanisms for tourism complaints processing and service quality supervision shall be made complete, and mechanisms for withdrawal of operators from the tourism market shall be improved. Scenic spot entrance ticket price reform shall be deepened, with adjustment and improvement of the price mechanism, and with regulation over pricing behavior. The prevailing social tendency of civilized tourism shall be vigorously advocated, and public interest service provision by tourism volunteers shall be actively launched, to promote the civilized tourism competency of tourists.
2. Improvement of urban tourism consultation centers and tourist collection and distribution centers: All regions shall, in accordance with the actual need, establish tourism consultation centers at scenic spots of Grade 3A and higher, key rural village tourist attractions, airports, bus stations, train stations, docks, etc. Construction of tourist collection and distribution centers in rational distribution and with complete functions on the basis of urban comprehensive passenger transport hubs and road passenger stations shall be encouraged. By 2020, full-scale coverage by tourism consultation service of key tourist attractions, tourist cities and tourist routes shall have been realized.
3. Strengthening of construction of roads and parking lots connecting scenic spots: Input shall be increased to accelerate promotion of construction of roads of cities, national highways and provincial highways connecting scenic spots of Grade A. Construction of transport infrastructure between cities and scenic spots and organization of transportation thereon shall be strengthened, and realization of seamless connectivity of highway transportation from airports, bus stations and docks to leading scenic spots shall be accelerated. Construction of parking spaces in scenic spots and rural tourist attractions shall be strengthened.
4. Strengthening of construction of tourism feeder-line airports in regions in central and west China: With the focus on national key tourist routes and concentrated and contiguous destitute areas, eligible regions shall be supported in building or expanding a number of feeder-line airports in accordance with the actual need, to increase air routes to major tourist source cities. Market forces shall be brought into full play, and enterprises shall be encouraged to develop low-cost air transport and domestic tourist plane charting businesses.
5. Vigorous promotion of construction of travel toilets: Construction, maintenance and management of travel toilets by commercial operators shall be encouraged, and three years shall be spent newly building and expanding 57,000 travel toilets nationwide, with improvement of water supply and drainage facilities therefor, and with realization of hazard-free treatment of feces. By 2017, the travel toilets in tourism scenic spots, on traffic trunk lines and in tourist collection and distribution centers nationwide shall have all met the requirement of being sufficient in numbers, clean and odorless, and effective in management.
II. Execution of Planning for Promoting Investment in Tourism, and Opening Up New Tourism Consumer Markets
6. Acceleration of construction of self-driving car and recreational vehicle campgrounds: The national planning for building self-driving car and recreational vehicle campgrounds and standards for building self-driving and recreational vehicle campgrounds shall be formulated, with definition of policies on lodging registration, security rescue, etc at campgrounds, and with extension of support to key tourism regions including ethnic minority regions, areas on the Silk Road and the Yangtze River Economic Zone in building self-driving and recreational vehicle campgrounds. By 2020, social capital shall have been encouraged and guided to build about 1,000 self-driving and recreational vehicle campgrounds.
7. Promotion of development of the cruise tourism industry: Establishment of systems of research and development, designing and building of large-sized cruise ships and systems of independent support therefor in China shall be supported, and eligible domestic shipbuilding enterprises shall be encouraged to conduct research and development and manufacturing of large and medium-sized cruise ships. In accordance with the Scheme for Planning the Distribution of Coastal Cruise Ship Ports Nationwide, the distribution of cruise ship ports shall be further optimized, to form a system of cruise ship ports in rational distribution comprising cruise ship home ports, departure ports and visit ports, and to promote in an orderly way the construction of cruise ship docks. Eligible enterprises shall be supported in establishing bonded warehouses in accordance with the relevant procedures. By 2020, ten cruise ship departure ports shall have been built nationwide.
8. Fostering and development of mass consumer markets for yachting tourism: Guiding opinions on the development of yachting tourism shall be formulated, and shorelines and waters shall be gradually opened under planning. Construction of infrastructure facilities including yacht quay berths shall be promoted, and the procedure for review and approval of yachts shall be checked and simplified, to lower the threshold for access and the general cost of yacht registration, voyage travel, berthing and maintenance, and to attract entry of social capital. Development of medium-sized and small yachts meeting the level of mass consumption shall be encouraged. Regions with resources of sea areas and water areas shall be encouraged to make planning for building yacht marinas in accordance with the local realities. By 2017, a number of yacht marinas and yacht berths shall have been built nationwide, and networks of interconnected and mutually accessible routes of leisure travel with yachts shall have initially formed, with fostering and formation of markets of mass consumption of yachting.
9.?Vigorous development of characteristic tourism cities and towns: Organic integration between development of new-type urbanization and development of a modern tourism industry shall be promoted. By 2020, a number of national-level characteristic tourism cities and town and famous characteristic landscape tourism towns integrating the functions of sightseeing, leisure, vacation, health preservation, shopping, etc into a whole shall have been established.
10.?Vigorous development of products of leisure and vocation tourism: Social capital shall be encouraged to vigorously develop products of leisure and vocation tourism including those of thermal spring, skiing, coast, sea islands, mountain land and health preservation. Priority shall be given to developing a number of high-level products of vacationing in tourism and national vacation resorts meeting multilevel and diverse demand for leisure vacation, on the basis of existing tourism facilities and tourism resources. Promotion of construction of leisure vacation zones around cities shall be accelerated, and cities shall be encouraged to develop leisure street blocks, urban greenways, cycling parks and non-motorized transportation systems, to extend urban leisure space. Key scenic regions and tourism cities shall be supported in developing tourism entertainment performance programs, and promoting regulated development of thematic parks. Tourism products on railway lines shall be developed or built on the basis of railway networks.
11. Vigorous development of the tourism equipment manufacturing industry: Tourism equipment shall be included into the developing planning of the relevant industries, and systems of safety technology standards shall be formulated and improved. Development of the tourism equipment manufacturing industries of cruise ships, yachts, barges, recreational vehicles, small tourist planes, cableways in scenic regions, large-sized recreational facilities, etc shall be encouraged. Various types of outdoor products with self-owned brands including those for leisure, mountaineering, skiing, diving, camping and expedition shall be vigorously fostered. Eligible enterprises shall be supported in merging with or acquiring advanced tourism equipment manufacturing enterprises abroad or launching equity joint-venture cooperation therewith. Enterprises shall be encouraged to launch independent innovation, research and development of tourism equipment, which is entitled to enjoy the policy of the State on encouraging scientific and technological innovation in accordance with the relevant provisions.
12. Active development of “the Internet + tourism”: Development and enlargement of online tourism platform enterprises shall be actively promoted, with integration of resources, essential factors and technology of upstream, downstream and parallel enterprises, to form a new ecosphere of the tourism industry, and to promote cross-sector integration of “the Internet + tourism”. Eligible tourism enterprises shall be supported in conducting exploration into Internet finance, with construction of third-party payment platforms for online tourism enterprises, with extension of generalization and application of mobile payment in the tourism industry, and with promotion of facilitation of tax rebate for overseas consumption. Cooperation with Internet companies and financial enterprises shall be strengthened. Real-name national tourism cards shall be issued. Statutory preferential policies thereon shall be implemented. Discounts for operators given special preference shall be realized. Systems of access license and operation license for new forms of business including platforms of online vacation rental, tourist online shopping and online travel car rental shall be made less stringent. By 2020, all scenic regions of Grade AAAA and higher and units designated to operate pilot projects of smart rural village tourism nationwide shall have realized full-scale coverage of such functions as free Wi-Fi,?intelligent tourism guide, electronic interpretation, online reservation and information push, and 10,000 smart scenic regions and smart tourism rural villages shall have been built nationwide.
III. Execution of Tourism Consumption Promotion Planning, and Fostering of New Hot Spots of Consumption
13.?Enrichment and promotion of characteristic tourism goods: Popular entrepreneurship and innovation of tourism goods shall be practically promoted, and market players shall be encouraged to develop tourist souvenirs with characteristics, with enrichment of types of tourism goods, to increase attractiveness to tourists. A number of leading enterprises of tourism goods research and development, production and sales shall be fostered, with strengthening of efforts for publicizing and promoting goods of time-honored brands and tourism goods of ethnic minorities. ?Execution of projects of promotion of Chinese brands of tourism goods shall be sped up, with presentation of series of tourism goods with Chinese characteristics. Entry of high-quality and characteristic tourism goods into major ports, airports, docks and other tourist shopping areas and large-sized shopping malls and supermarkets in urban areas shall be encouraged, with extension of support for online sales of tourism goods. Entry duty-free shops at ports shall be additionally established to appropriate extents.
14. Active development of senior citizen tourism: The formulation of the outline of the national senior citizen tourism development program shall be sped up, to regulate senior citizen tourism service provision, and to encourage development of multilevel and diverse senior citizen tourism products. All regions shall strengthen support for projects of elderly long-stay tourism in rural areas, vigorously promote development of elderly long-stay tourism in rural areas, and encourage private capital to use in accordance with law land collectively owned by farmers to operate nonprofit rural nursing institutions for the aged. The work of settlement of medical expenses from non-local medical treatment covered by basic medical insurance shall be well done. Further development and improvement of commercial insurance products meeting the requirement of senior citizen tourism shall be encouraged.
15. Support of development of research and academic study travel: Research and academic study travel shall be included into the category of comprehensive competence-oriented education of students. Construction of a number of bases for research and academic study travel shall be supported, and all regions shall be supported in launching activities of research and academic study travel on the basis of natural and cultural heritage resources, tourist scenic spots and scenic regions associated with the Chinese Communist revolution, large-sized public utilities, famous universities and schools, scientific and technological research institutions, industrial or mining enterprises and large-sized farms. Research and academic study travel safety protection mechanisms shall be established and perfected. Travel agencies and places for research and academic study travel shall, in accordance with the characteristics of young students, combine education with tourism in terms of content designing, furnishing of tourist guides, safety facilities and protection. International research and academic study travel exchange shall be strengthened, and activities of overseas travel by high school and primary school students for research and academic study tours shall be regulated and guided.
16. Active development of traditional Chinese medicine healthcare tourism: A number of model products of traditional Chinese medicine healthcare tourism integrating the traditional Chinese medicine rehabilitation therapy, life cultivation and health preservation, and culture experience into a whole under the theme of transmission of the culture of traditional Chinese medicine shall be presented. In regions with the necessary conditions, model parks of the traditional Chinese medicine healthcare tourism industry shall be built, to promote in-depth combination between the industry of traditional Chinese medicine and the tourism market, with launch of pioneering operations and pilot projects in terms of innovation of business forms, reform of mechanisms and cluster development. The market of traditional Chinese medicine healthcare tourism shall be regulated, with strengthening of formulation of industrial standards and quality supervision and control. Publicity of traditional Chinese medicine healthcare tourism overseas shall be increased, with promotion of international exchange and cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine healthcare tourism, in order that the culture of traditional Chinese medicine will go global through tourism operation.
IV. Execution of Planning for Promoting Rural Tourism, and Extension of Space for Tourism Consumption
17. Adherence to the orientation of customized and characteristic development of rural tourism: On the basis of the characteristics of resources and advantages in the ecological environment of the local region, the characteristics of rural life, production and ecology shall be highlighted, with in-depth tapping of implications of rural cultures, with development and establishment of rural tourism products in various forms and with distinctive characteristics and outstanding individuality, and with holding of festival activities with local characteristics. Importance shall be attached to protecting ethnic minority villages, ancient villages and ancient towns, and a number of tourist villages and towns with characteristic landscape that are of historical, geographical and ethnic characteristics shall be built, in order that tourists can see the landscape, have the nostalgic memories and keep in mind the rural folk customs.
18. Improvement of support facilities for leisure agriculture and rural tourism: Priority shall be given to strengthening construction of infrastructure facilities and public service facilities for characteristic villages for leisure agriculture or rural tourism including roads, electric power, drinking water, toilets, parking lots, garbage and sewage treatment facilities and information networks, with strengthening of construction of relevant support facilities for tourism and leisure. By 2020, the construction of 6,000 or more model villages for rural tourism shall have been completed nationwide, with formation of 100,000 or more characteristic villages for leisure agriculture or rural tourism and 3 million rural home-stay hotels, and the annual total of visitor arrivals for rural tourism shall have exceeded 2 billion, benefiting 50 million local farmers.
19. Launch of the operation of development of 1 million rural tourism makers: By means of strengthening policy guidance and professional training, 1 million migrant workers returning to their rural homeland, university graduates, professionals, et al shall be guided and supported to realize independent business startups through operation of rural tourism. Professionals with cultural circles, art circles, and scientific and technological circles shall be encouraged to bring into play their professional advantages and influence in their sectors by conducting activities of creation and business startups in rural areas with the necessary conditions. By 2017, a number of model bases for developing rural tourism makers shall have been built nationwide, with formation of a number of rural villages for business startup and employment with respect to high-standard cultural and artistic tourism.
20. Vigorous promotion of poverty alleviation through operation of rural tourism: Planning , guidance, professional training, publicity and promotion for key villages designated for poverty alleviation through operation of rural tourism shall be strengthened. Public-interest activities of planned poverty alleviation through operation of rural tourism shall be organized and launched. For poverty-stricken villages that have been put on files and registered on archive cards, they shall be covered by poverty alleviation in entirety. In 2015, the work of operating pilot projects of poverty alleviation through operation of rural tourism in 560 poverty-stricken villages that have been put on files and registered on archive cards shall be well managed. By 2020, operation of rural tourism shall have led 2 million poverty-stricken population to shake off poverty and become better off annually nationwide, 6,000 key villages designated for poverty alleviation through operation of rural tourism shall have been supported in operating rural tourism, and generation of 1 million yuan in annual income by each of the key villages from operation of rural tourism shall have realized.
V. Optimization of Arrangement for Leave to Arouse Demand for Tourist Consumption
21.?Implementation of the system of paid leave of employees: The People's Governments at all levels shall put implementation of the system of paid leave of employees on their agenda, shall formulate specific rules and plans for implementing the system of paid leave, and shall well manage implementation thereof.
22.?Encouragement of peak shifting in taking leaves: Under the premise of stabilizing the existing nationally unified festivals and holidays, all units and enterprises can, in light of their realities, combine paid leave with traditional local holidays and characteristic local activities in making arrangement for peak shifting in taking leaves.
23.?Encouragement of flexible scheduling of work and leave: Regions and units with the necessary conditions can, in light of their realities, optimize and adjust in accordance with law the scheduling of work and leave during the summer season, to make favorable conditions for employees to combine the afternoon of Fridays with the weekend in going outing, spending leisure time and taking vacations.
VI. Strengthening of Efforts for Reform and Innovation to Promote Sustained Growth of Tourism Investment and Consumption
24.?Strengthening of government support: Eligible regions shall accelerate application of the policy on overseas travelers shopping departure tax refund. The China Tourism Industry Promotion Fund shall be established. Local governments with the necessary conditions shall be encouraged to establish local tourism industry promotion funds. Enterprises shall be supported in investing in, building and operating tourism projects through the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. The People's Governments at all levels shall strengthen support for national key tourism scenic regions, key tourist routes on the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the Yangtze River Economic Zone, etc, development of ecological tourism in concentrated and contiguous destitute regions, and tourism infrastructure facilities and public service facilities including villages designated for poverty alleviation through operation of rural tourism. Colorful tourism shall be enabled to enrich the life of the masses of the people and assist economic development.
25.?Implementation of differential policies on use of land, seas and islands by the tourism industry: For key tourism projects involving heavy investment and with good prospects for development, they shall be given priority in receiving arrangement and in assignment of plans and quotas for land and sea enclosure and reclamation. Newly increased quotas for use of land for construction shall be assigned to regions in central and western China in preference, and regions in central and western China shall be supported in making a use of barren mountains, waste slopes, desolate beaches, garbage dumps, abandoned mines and rocky desertification land to develop tourism projects. For development of hydrophilic spaces including offshore tourism, entertainment and outdoor bathing places, etc, priority shall be given to it in guarantee.
26.?Extension of channels for financing for tourism enterprises: Eligible tourism enterprises shall be supported in having themselves listed, and financial institutions shall be encouraged to strengthen credit support to tourism enterprises in accordance with the principles of controllability of risks and commercial sustainability. Products of securitization of assets of tourism investment projects shall be actively developed, and construction of platforms for trading in tourism projects property rights and operation rights shall be promoted. Tourism enterprises with good expected returns and with high brand recognition shall be actively guided to make exploration for financing and fund raising by means of hypothecating (or pledging) the relevant rights of charge, operation, etc. Export of tourism equipment shall be encouraged, and credit support for export of large-sized tourism equipment shall be strengthened.
General Office of the State Council
August 4, 2015