The 2026 National Day Cultural and Tourism Consumption Month has been officially launched recently, and various regions are expected to issue more than 310 million yuan in consumer vouchers and other consumer subsidies to provide people with richer choices and a more comfortable experience when traveling during the holidays. How much tangible dividends consumer vouchers can bring to consumers and how much effect they have on the market have become the focus of social attention.
Boosting consumption is the top priority for expanding domestic demand and making the domestic cycle bigger and stronger. Consumer vouchers are a measure that the government uses to stimulate consumption with real money subsidies, that is, it uses fiscal funds to leverage social consumption, producing the effect of "four or two moves a thousand pounds". In recent years, various forms of consumer vouchers have been widely issued in various places, effectively reducing consumers' actual payment costs, encouraging residents to consume in advance and increase consumption, boosting market passenger flow and turnover, and driving market recovery in key areas such as catering, home appliances, automobiles, culture, and tourism.
Various regions have invested as little as a few million yuan to as much as hundreds of millions of yuan in fiscal funds, which adds up to a large scale. While affirming the overall effect, great attention must be paid to the performance of financial funds.
In terms of mechanism design, there is a problem of insufficient delivery accuracy in some places. Consumer vouchers are not “the more the better”, but need to both truly benefit consumers and effectively stimulate the market. General consumption coupons are prone to produce a substitution effect, that is, using subsidies to "discount" consumption that would otherwise occur, without generating new consumption. In some places, the threshold for using consumer coupons is high and the categories are few. It is also difficult to increase the attractiveness and achieve the expected results. When issuing consumer vouchers in various places, it is necessary to strengthen full research and scientific demonstration on participants, consumer needs, use areas, etc., optimize the structure of capital investment, rationally design different types of consumer vouchers, and guide the consumption of key areas and commodities. We should not just look at the amount issued, but also pay attention to the actual number of write-offs and the effect of stimulating consumption.
In terms of usage rules, it needs to be simpler and more efficient. Some consumer coupons have high thresholds for full discounts, short use periods, and many additional restrictions, which appear to be very insincere and have weak appeal to consumers. Some consumption coupon collection entrances are scattered and the operation is cumbersome. Many consumer coupons are too difficult to "grab", and the platform's carrying capacity is even insufficient. There may be congestion or even server crashes when collecting coupons, and it is not friendly enough to groups such as the elderly. These problems have seriously affected the consumer experience, and have also weakened the actual effect of consumer vouchers and policies to expand domestic demand. Local governments need to optimize issuance and use rules to make it easier for consumers to receive and use consumer vouchers, and promote consumer vouchers to fully play their due role.
In terms of supervision and management, it is necessary to keep a close eye on and prevent illegal activities such as false write-offs and cash outs. In reality, a small number of merchants collude with users to create fictitious orders, false write-offs, obtain financial subsidies, and even form a gray chain. Recently, a people's court in a certain place in Sichuan concluded a fraud case of illegally obtaining government consumption subsidy funds, and several defendants were sentenced. Fiscal subsidy funds cannot become "Tang Monk Meat". Criminals take advantage of policy loopholes and illegally cash out to make profits, which embezzles public funds and affects the effectiveness of policies. Relevant departments should strengthen the verification of information such as the identity of the recipient and the authenticity of merchant transactions to ensure that the issuance and use of consumer vouchers are fair, just and standardized.
Of course, consumer vouchers are only one of the "combination punches" of policies to promote consumption and expand domestic demand. They are short-term stimulus tools of "direct subsidies and immediate incentives". While issuing and using consumer vouchers, various localities must also implement other policy tools, especially the function of a package of fiscal and financial policies to promote domestic demand, divide labor and complement each other, work together, and effectively expand domestic demand in a coordinated manner. For the majority of consumers, they can fully understand the policy and fully obtain policy dividends through consumer coupons, consumer goods trade-in, consumer loan discounts and other channels to better meet the needs for improving the quality of life.
Promoting consumption can not only drive economic growth, but is also directly related to employment and people's livelihood. Boosting consumption with greater intensity and more precise policy measures will inject strong impetus into high-quality economic and social development. (Author: Zeng Jinhua)
