An additional location has been added to the implementation of the departure tax refund policy. The General Administration of Customs has issued a relevant announcement stating that Jilin Province will implement the policy of tax refund for overseas tourists leaving the country after shopping in accordance with relevant regulations from September 1, 2025. Departure tax refund refers to the policy of refunding value-added tax on goods purchased by overseas tourists at tax refund stores when they leave the country. Since the third quarter, new policy measures have been introduced in Sichuan, Guangxi, Beijing, Chongqing and other places around outbound tax refunds, aiming to better meet the needs of overseas tourists for shopping and outbound tax refunds. Song Xiangqing, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Business Economics, stated in an interview with reporters that currently, attracting overseas tourists and expanding inbound consumption have become one of the important directions for China's economic development. Multiple regions are promoting the expansion of departure tax rebate policies, which not only helps to increase tourism revenue, but also drives the further development of retail, catering, accommodation and other industries, and promotes the continuous maturity of the domestic consumer market. The entry points for local governments to increase their outbound tax refund policies are not the same, including but not limited to launching centralized refund points for outbound tax refunds, collaborating with financial institutions to launch real-time payment of outbound tax refunds, and implementing cross regional "buy and refund" services for outbound tax refunds through mutual recognition measures at departure ports. Overall, the departure tax refund policies in many places are developing towards refinement, informatization, and convenience. Regarding this, interviewed experts generally stated that this is an inevitable choice for local relevant departments to transform inbound tourism flow into consumption increment, stimulate new vitality of inbound consumption, and also an important lever for expanding high-level opening-up to the outside world. The significance of local proactive actions lies not only in stimulating consumption, but also in attracting global resource elements through institutional openness, helping China move towards becoming a super large "consumer power". In recent years, a large number of overseas tourists have started "China Tour" and "China Shopping", bringing visible traffic and unique vitality to China's tourism market. The "Statistical Bulletin on National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China in 2024" released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2024, there were 131.9 million inbound tourists, an increase of 60.8%. In addition, according to the disclosure of the National Migration Administration, 13.64 million visa free foreigners entered the country in the first half of this year, accounting for 71.2%, up 53.9% year on year. Overall, the consumption behavior of inbound tourists presents the following characteristics: in terms of consumption scenes, they often go to large shopping centers, characteristic commercial streets, and shops full of ethnic charm; In terms of product selection, they generally favor products with Chinese characteristics such as silk, tea, and traditional porcelain. ”Fu Yifu, a special researcher at Suzhou Commercial Bank, told reporters that due to their high cost-effectiveness, domestic electronic products are becoming a favorite of more and more inbound tourists. In order to follow the trend, enhance the sense of gain for inbound tourists, and expand inbound consumption, the policy side has taken the initiative to deploy work through the exit tax rebate as a cutting point. In April of this year, the Ministry of Commerce and six other departments issued a notice on further optimizing the exit tax rebate policy and expanding inbound consumption. In May, the National Conference on Optimizing Exit Tax Refund Policies and Expanding Inbound Consumption was held in Beijing. The conference pointed out that developing exit tax refunds is an important lever to vigorously boost consumption, an important measure to cope with external shocks, and an important way to expand high-level opening-up to the outside world. According to data released by the State Administration of Taxation, the number of domestic outbound tax refund shops doubled from January to June this year, exceeding 7200. The number of people enjoying tax refunds increased by 186% year-on-year, and the sales revenue and tax refund amount of refunded goods increased by 94.6% and 93.2% respectively year-on-year. Hong Yong, Deputy Researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, stated in an interview with reporters that there is still room for optimization in China's outbound tax rebate policy. From a national perspective, it is recommended that relevant departments upgrade the departure tax refund policy to a "convenient entry" system project, and promote the full coverage of "buy and refund, mail tax refund" on the basis of promoting interconnectivity among customs, taxation, payment, logistics, etc. At the local level, while implementing existing policies, each region should further improve the details of departure tax refund services, vigorously enhance the consumption experience of inbound tourists, and make a one-time tax refund a "catalyst" to stimulate multiple consumption intentions. (New Society)