Qingdao works to expand consumption

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province has launched a "100-day consumption season" event, which will run from March 23 to June 30, to try to make up for the lost consumption as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A news conference was held on March 20 by the Qingdao municipal government to provide details about the event.

Wan Jianzhong, deputy secretary-general of the Qingdao municipal government, said that Qingdao is working to develop into an international consumption center, upgrade its industrial structure, and boost economic growth.

Wan said that by March 20, the city had seen no new confirmed cases in residents for nine consecutive days. However, many businesses have not fully resumed operations, and there are still many challenges to be overcome until production can be fully restored and daily life can return to normal

Wan said that the government will help companies in the commercial and service industries fully resume operations on the precondition that they implement sufficient prevention and control measures.

Zhao Shiyu, director of the Qingdao bureau of commerce, said that the consumption season would focus on shopping, catering, culture, tourism, accommodation, real estate, sports, fitness, manufacturing, automobile sales, and agricultural tourism. A series of special offers, discounts, and allowances will be offered as well.

Online bookings and "no-contact delivery" will be encouraged to accelerate the fusion of online and offline retail. More sales events will also be held via live stream.

Restaurants and snack bars are encouraged to strengthen cooperation with food delivery platforms to encourage takeout and promote contactless delivery in order to avoid direct contact with customers.

Bookstores and publishers are being encouraged to promote online services and sales as well in an effort to increase investment in digital product research and development.

Cultural and tourism enterprises such as hotels, travel agencies, scenic spots, and museums are encouraged to carry out promotions and open to the public for free. They are being urged to use new media channels to expand their reach.

In addition, gyms and sports clubs are being encouraged to offer online training courses and discounts to attract more customers.

Furthermore, a series of rural sightseeing events and fruit-picking activities will be held to promote rural tourism.

Zhao said that Qingdao will establish an oversight team to strengthen market supervision as well as epidemic prevention and control in order to ensure the event runs smoothly.