|
 Helped by a fast-expanding middle class, tourism has emerged as a
prospective new driver in China's economy, with the government
aiming to double leisure spending to 5.5 trillion yuan ($886
billion) by 2020 from 2013.
Ten new ports for cruise ships will be constructed by 2020 and state
companies will be encouraged to build vacation boats to spur growth,
the State Council, China's cabinet, said in an online statement on
Tuesday.
In addition, around 1,000 camp grounds for recreational vehicles
will be developed by 2020 and 57,000 toilet facilities for tourists
will be built or renovated in the next three years, it said.
Wireless networks will be installed at top tourist spots to give
visitors free Internet access at some 10,000 destinations.
To pay for the new construction, funds will be created and private
investors will be encouraged to become partners in projects, the
cabinet said, without giving further details.
More funding will be made available for the construction of roads
and parking lots at holiday spots, as well as for new airports in
northwest China.
Credit support for tourism firms and outdoor sports equipment makers
will be increased, and more holiday destinations will offer tax
breaks to lift spending.
[to top of second column] |
Tourist spots will target elderly Chinese, a well-heeled group whose
spending lags that of the wider population, the cabinet said.
Held down by a cooling property market, sluggish investment,
faltering global demand and a stock market slide, the world's
second-largest economy is forecast to grow 7 percent this year, its
worst showing in 25 years.
In another move seen by analysts as a way to shore up the economy,
China devalued its currency on Tuesday by nearly 2 percent.
[ID:nL3N10M1PP]
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Alan
Raybould)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
