The 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress convened its third session at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center on Jan 15.

During the meeting, the annual Report on the Work of the Government was delivered, recounting the achievements of the previous year and outlining the city's economic priorities for the year ahead.

In 2024, Shanghai made a significant push to boost consumption, with several major events taking place — including the 5th Shanghai Shopping Festival, the inaugural Shanghai Summer International Consumption Season and the first Shanghai International Light Festival.

Other notable initiatives included the China International Consumption Center City Quality Consumption Month and the 35th Shanghai Tourism Festival. To support these efforts, the city introduced trade-in programs for consumer goods, developed the catering industry and distributed "Le Shanghai" service consumption coupons. Shanghai also put in use an additional 54,000 foreign card POS retail sales machines, increasing the total to 90,000.

Looking ahead to 2025, Shanghai plans to expand its domestic demand and to stabilize external demand to ensure steady economic growth. Key strategies will include coordinating economic policies, boosting consumer spending and creating synergies across sectors to strengthen the recovery momentum.

Major events, such as the Shanghai Shopping Festival and Shanghai Tourism Festival, will continue to be a key part of this strategy.

In addition, Shanghai plans to foster innovation in online and offline consumption, develop emerging markets — like the "silver economy", or the elderly care industry, night economy and livestreaming economy — and promote green consumption and the rise of domestic consumer brands.

The city will also seek to attract more high-profile events in areas like sports, exhibitions and performances to integrate commerce, culture, tourism and entertainment.

To further bolster consumption, Shanghai will improve the experience of inbound visitors by promoting duty-free shopping and creating a safe, reliable environment for consumers.

Sources: "shanghaifabu" WeChat account, Shanghai Observer