By Xinyi Wu

Copyright scmp

China is making a renewed push to boost service consumption by relaxing market access and increasing supply – across sectors such as culture, sports and healthcare – as Beijing doubles down on expanding domestic demand for economic growth.
The measures, which also include strengthening fiscal support and investments, were released in a 19-point set of guidelines jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce and nine other departments on Tuesday.
Authorities pledged to further open up the culture industry, promising to channel existing funds to high-quality creative works and productions, and to extend the operating hours of popular museums and other scenic sites.
They also laid out plans to introduce more international sports events and support local governments in hosting mass sports activities, as well as to reduce red tape and attract more foreign and private investment to fields such as mid- to high-end medical care.
To raise demand, the measures proposed expanding visa-free access to attract more foreign visitors to China, and exploring adjustments to schools’ holiday schedules to allow more time for travel and other activities.
Authorities also vowed to encourage financial institutions to lend more to businesses in the sector and implement interest subsidies for consumer loans in key areas.
Last month, China unveiled interest rate subsidies on personal consumer loans to spur household spending.

The services industry has emerged as a key focus for officials as Beijing elevates domestic consumption as a key economic priority to rebalance the economy.
But consumer sentiment has remained soft, dampened by a prolonged real estate slump and a challenging job market.
Retail sales growth slowed to 3.4 per cent in August, with the effects of the country’s trade-in programme – which has been a major driver of spending this year – believed to have peaked.
“The boost from durable-goods trade-in programmes is fading, but emphasis on services-consumption support is picking up,” analysts from HSBC said in a research note on Monday.
Increasing the supply of services has become a crucial task for Beijing, especially as services-production growth slowed in August for the third straight month, to 5.6 per cent.
The challenge was highlighted by Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, who said in July that while services consumption was growing faster than that for goods, its expansion was constrained by a shortage of high-quality supply.
Within the industry, sectors such as tourism and sports have emerged as sources of growth.
China’s cabinet, the State Council, announced plans earlier this month to build a 7 trillion yuan (US$980 billion) sports sector by 2030 to spur consumption growth.
Sports and entertainment-related retail sales growth picked up to 16.9 per cent in August from 13.7 per cent the month prior.