Government News
Shanghai’s retail sales climb 4.6% last year as inbound tourism hits new high 2026-01-21
Shanghai’s total retail sales of consumer goods advanced 4.6 percent in 2025 from a year earlier, buoyed by strong policy support and a record number of inbound tourists, according to the latest data.Shanghai’s total retail sales of consumer goods topped CNY1.6 trillion (USD238.4 billion) last year, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics said on January 21. The growth rate for the full year was 0.3 percentage point faster than in the first three quarters, and has been gaining pace quarter by quarter. It was also 0.9 percentage point higher than the national average of 3.7 percent.
Shanghai logged a record surge in inbound tourism in 2025, with numbers soaring 40 percent year on year to 9.36 million overseas visitors, the bureau said. Sales linked to tax refundable goods for departing travelers surged about 80 percent.
The steady rebound in consumer spending was driven by three main factors, Ma Haiqian, deputy director of the Shanghai Academy of Development and Reform, told Yicai. First, targeted policy support directly spurred demand through measures such as car and home appliance trade-in programs and service consumption vouchers. Second, the innovative integration of activities such as culture, tourism, commerce, sports and exhibitions helped create headline-grabbing consumption scenarios, led by flagship events such as the “Double Five Shopping Festival” and “Shanghai Summer.” Third, the faster recovery of international flights and more convenient visa policies, combined with Shanghai’s global appeal, fueled an explosive recovery in inbound tourism.
Strong policy backing was the key support behind last year’s consumption rebound, Shen Kaiyan, head of the Institute of Economics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told Yicai. Shanghai rolled out a steady stream of pro-consumption measures, including expanding the scope of trade-in subsidies, offering incentives for car replacement purchases that covered some foreign brands as well as distributing consumption vouchers.
Looking ahead, Ma said retail sales are expected to maintain steady growth in 2026, with service consumption continuing to play a leading role.
Shen concurred with this viewpoint, saying that supportive policies are likely to remain in place this year, further unlocking the potential of service consumption, while supply-side innovation will remain active. However, as the base gets higher, growth may naturally slow, she added. Global economic volatility could affect long-haul travel demand, and consumer confidence still needs time to fully recover, but, overall, she remains optimistic, she said.
Next, Shanghai should focus on transforming short-term promotions into long-term consumption habits, broaden the scope of consumption by actively developing new growth points such as the silver economy and green, smart home products as well as optimize the consumption environment and enhance “soft” capabilities like international payments and multilingual services, Ma said.
Source: Yicai Global
