Multiple regions officially announce a new round of consumption vouchers to activate the spring economy

Since March, many regions including Yunnan Province, Henan Province, Jiangxi Province, Fujian Province, and Hubei Province have issued or decided to issue a new round of consumer vouchers.

For example, on March 9, the Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce announced on its official website that, in order to thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council regarding the special action to boost consumption and expand service consumption, and to implement the spirit of documents such as the “Fujian Province Special Action to Boost Consumption Implementation Plan” and the “Fujian Province High-Quality Development Plan to Promote Service Consumption,” in accordance with the relevant work requirements of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, it was decided to issue the first batch of “Fujian You Kou Fu” dining consumption vouchers for 2026.

Hong Tao, Vice Chairman of the China Consumer Economics Society, told Securities Daily that the announcement of a new round of consumer vouchers by many regions is the result of policy guidance and the dual pursuit of people’s livelihood needs. It helps better stimulate residents’ consumption, activate the spring economy, and further promote the expansion and upgrading of the consumer market.

From this round of惠民 measures, the distribution of consumer vouchers in many places shows two main characteristics: large subsidy力度 and targeted implementation.

Taking Fujian Province as an example, according to the Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce, the first batch of “Fujian You Kou Fu” dining vouchers has three denominations: 50 yuan, which can be used for dining expenses of 150 yuan per use; 100 yuan, for dining expenses of 300 yuan per use; and 300 yuan, for dining expenses of 800 yuan per use.

“From a short-term perspective, the greater the subsidy力度, the more it can directly reduce consumption costs and allow consumers to enjoy tangible discounts, quickly creating a consumption boom; from a medium- to long-term perspective, large subsidies help leverage fiscal funds more effectively, promote healthy interaction and mutual promotion between supply and demand, and truly achieve the policy goals of benefiting people’s livelihood, stimulating consumption, and increasing future momentum,” said Zhu Keli, founder of the National Economic Research Institute, in an interview with Securities Daily. He added that increasing subsidy力度 for consumer vouchers in various regions is a pragmatic measure to stabilize consumption expectations.

During the distribution of consumer vouchers, many places link them to specific consumption scenarios, consumer groups, or behaviors, implementing targeted and precise policies. As a result, the types of vouchers issued vary across regions, including but not limited to retail vouchers, childcare service vouchers, and sports consumption vouchers.

Experts interviewed generally believe that targeted issuance of consumer vouchers can better align with new local consumption trends and fully发挥消费券对当地经济增长的“助燃剂”作用.

This year, the government work report proposed to “adhere to domestic demand-led development, coordinate promoting consumption and expanding investment, explore new space for domestic demand growth, and better leverage the advantages of China’s super-large market.”

Consumer vouchers are an important tool to boost consumption. Moving forward, what further work needs to be done regarding consumer vouchers? In response, Fu Yifu, a special researcher at Sushang Bank, told Securities Daily that local authorities should optimize the design and issuance of vouchers based on local conditions, simplify the process of claiming and redeeming vouchers, and track and analyze the effects of distribution to make timely adjustments to the voucher implementation plan.