Chongqing- Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce, announced that with the approval of China’s State Council, five cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Chongqing, would blaze a path of fostering international consumption centers on July 19.

Great power to boost consumption

According to the National Night-time Economy Impact Report released by Liaowang Institute of Xinhua News Agency and Tencent, Chonqing has been at the top of the list for two consecutive years.

Chongqing ranked first in all four dimensions, including innovation, industry scale, night-time economy outreach, and business district traffic.

Through the total retail sales of consumer goods in major cities of China in 2020, it is found that the top ten cities include Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Among them, the total retail sales of Shanghai, Beijing, and Chongqing have all exceeded the trillion yuan mark. Chongqing ranked third after Shanghai and Beijing with a scale of 1178.72 billion yuan (approx. 182.30 billion U.S. dollars).

According to Chongqing's latest released economic operation data in the first half of 2021, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Chongqing reached 689.299 billion yuan, increasing 29.9 percent year-on-year.

Specifically, the retail sales of merchandise and restaurant revenue were 588.535 billion yuan and 100.764 billion yuan, compared to the previous year, up 26.8% and 51.7%, respectively.

All these data are proof of the strong consumer capabilities and growth in Chongqing.

How to build an international consumption center?

Upgrading consumption environment and support

According to Peng Heliang, Deputy Director of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, they will start from four aspects to promote the construction of Chongqing as an international consumption center.

Plans involve creating the first choice for international brands and the world's consumer goods supermarket, building an international commodity distribution center, introducing many cross-border e-commerce brands, and forming a world consumer goods supermarket to promote the optimization of consumption and supply.

Peng emphasized it is also necessary to update the consumption platform.  By establishing an international consumption demonstration area, it can be possible to carry our high-quality pilot of pedestrian street renovation and upgrading, enabling the consumption platform to become the name card of the city’s consumption, and the stage for high-quality development and the window of a further opening-up.  

Meanwhile, improving the consumption environment will establish a traceability system for the quality of imported products, creating a safe and sound consumption environment.

Peng said that upgrading the consumption support, including improving fiscal and tax measures to support consumer spending and organizing a series of consumption promotion activities, will further stimulate residents' consumption potential.

Deepening international exchanges and cooperation

Additionally, the Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipal People's Government will focus on deepening exchanges and cooperation and expanding Chongqing's "friend circle" of international exchanges, which can benefit the construction of an international consumption center through providing the platform, optimizing environment, and expanding influence.

Detailed plans involve building an international exchange center in western China to enhance the internationalization level of the city, strengthening the city promotion through the consulates in Chengdu and Chongqing, deepening exchanges and cooperation through Sister Cities International (SCI), and expanding the influence via high-quality international conferences and other implementation actions.

Night cultural tourism consumption

Creating a national cultural and tourism consumption demonstration city, Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development intends to further extend resources for cultural tourism consumption, with a target of creating a "national night-time cultural tourism consumption gathering area," winning the laurel of "night mountain city " and becoming the highland of night cultural tourism consumption.  

Specifically, apart from cultivating well-known brands of cultural tourism consumption, the commission also plans to arrange the construction of smart fields in the 5G era to encourage the integration and upgrading of smart cultural tourism projects, which can further enhance the consumption experience and level of culture and tourism.

At the same time, by carrying out cultural exchanges and managing the city's image in mainstream cities around the world, and making good use of the 144-hour visa-free entry policy, the commission aims to formulate more significant incentives for inbound tourism.

Chongqing also strives to enlarge the business district to drive the development of the surrounding areas. The renovation and upgrading of pedestrian streets will be taken as a breakthrough to play a guiding role, which can effectively improve the quality and capacity of surrounding areas.

In addition, the city will also continue to host international institutional conferences, host more high-end international meetings and forums, and constantly enhance the city's global influence.

(Du Min, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)