China has successfully made the transformationfrom an economy whose growth is mainly driven byinvestment and foreign trade to one that is poweredby domestic demand, especially consumption, saidGao Hucheng, minister of commerce, during a pressconference held by the State Council InformationOffice on Tuesday.
By 2015, China's retail sales of consumer goodsreached RMB 30.1 trillion, up 10.7 percent from the previous year. Consumption contributed66.4 percent to national economic growth, 15.4 percent higher than in 2014, playing the role ofstabilizer for economic growth.
Gao said there are many reasons for the increasing buying sprees by Chinese tourists overseas.Firstly, ever since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the incomegrowth of China's urban and rural residents has been faster than the GDP for threeconsecutive years and consumption capacity has also been expanding. Secondly, China'ssocial security system has been gradually improving, encouraging people with extra money toup their consumption.
Thirdly, consumption conditions have improved. The supply side has adapted to the market inrecent years. For example, health care, travel and entertainment have seen growth.
As far as China's?outbound?shopping is concerned, data shows that there were 120 millionoversea visits in 2015, and consumption abroad, including travel fees, accommodation andshopping expenses, totaled 1.5 trillion yuan ($229.8 billion), among which at least 700-800billion yuan ($107.3-122.6 billion) was spent on shopping.
Medium- and high-income communities are forming in China, Gao notes, and medium- and low-end commodities and services can hardly meet their consumption needs. Their shopping listshave largely turned toward higher quality goods and better prices from past demands forluxury brands. Therefore, business is now a focal point for playing the role of supply side.