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During the upcoming nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, Chinese authorities are implementing numerous measures to encourage travel and boost consumer spending. One initiative includes a lottery tied to official invoices, known locally as fapiao, offering total prizes exceeding CNY 1 billion (approximately USD 145 million).
Participants in 50 pilot cities can enter prize draws by making purchases, dining out, traveling, or staying at hotels throughout the Spring Festival holiday, which runs from February 15 to February 23. To qualify, consumers need to collect invoices of at least CNY 100 (around USD 14.50). Each invoice can win prizes up to CNY 800 (about USD 115).
The lottery prizes during the festival account for roughly 10% of a CNY 10 billion (around USD 1.4 billion) prize pool announced earlier by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Taxation Administration. This pool will be distributed over a six-month trial period.
Additionally, China will enhance its consumer goods trade-in subsidy program during this period. Now in its third year, the program encourages households to exchange old appliances and consumer items for new ones. Sheng Qiuping noted that the initial batch of national subsidies for this year, totaling CNY 62.5 billion (about USD 9 billion), has already been allocated to local commerce agencies to facilitate smooth subsidy claims by consumers.
Beyond trade-in incentives, local governments across the country will provide more than CNY 360 million (approximately USD 52 million) in spending vouchers, ticket discounts, and promotional campaigns to stimulate consumption, according to Fu Hanxiao, deputy director of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s industry development department.
In recent months, tourism agencies have hosted Spring Festival-themed tourism promotion events in over 100 countries and regions to attract international visitors. During the holiday itself, about 30,000 cultural and tourism events are expected to be held nationwide.
Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration are coordinating with financial and payment institutions to create promotional offers on flights, hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions for the holiday period, Sheng added.
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