At the beginning of May, China will commence a five-day Labor Day Holiday, an annual festival worldwide to celebrate the achievement of workers. 

The holiday comes amid a drive to boost China's consumption, an integral aspect of economic recovery and growth. Local authorities are aiming to make up for the lost ground by encouraging retail sales during this extended period, including a goods expo in the island of Hainan. 

Major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing are also coordinating a vast sales drive with e-commerce retailers. 

Consumption has long been singled out as one of the most important components of China's economic growth and development, that is, the ability for people to buy, spend and consume goods of various kinds. 

The country has long been aiming for a transition from being purely a manufacturing economy, to one in which manufacturing and consumption compliment and feed into each other, attaining perpetual growth.

With 1.4 billion people, China already boasts the world's largest domestic consumer market which has not yet grown to its full potential, promising opportunities ahead for certain sectors.

Although China's economy has rebounded following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in exports and industrial profits, the rate of consumption is yet to recover completely due to public hesitancy associated with the minimization of social and commercial activities.

As a result, there needs to be an effort to kickstart consumption and rekindle public confidence. The country is, therefore, coordinating a consumption spree during the Labor Day weekend in order to retake lost ground and support retail. 

Pivotal to China's consumption development, and this specific holiday, is Hainan. Over the past few years, the government have been initiating special measures in order to transform it into a tourist and consumption resort, building a new form of economy in Hainan. 

The island is to firstly become China's "free trade port" – a category of free trade zone differing from other areas on the mainland, which will be completed in 2025. 

It is to be given lower income tax rates, reduced corporate tax, no import duties, and relaxed visa requirements for foreign visitors. In developing these plans, China is promoting domestic tourism to the island and encouraging consumption there accordingly, including through the aforementioned goods expo. Numerous luxury brands are already consolidating their presence on the island, all of which are part of developing China's future consumer and tourism driven economy. 

With consumption being a keystone of China's future economic growth, the government is prioritizing the expansion of this sector to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 on consumer confidence and to reinvigorate the expansion of retail and tourist business in China. 

This is not just a country where people make things and sell them to the world, this is a country where people ultimately also spend, and such a premise represents ample opportunity for the world's leading brands and goods, who continue to consolidate China as the pinnacle of their international marketing and strategies. Hainan island is set to be a big part of it.

Tom Fowdy is a British political and international relations analyst and a graduate of Durham and Oxford universities. He writes on topics pertaining to China, the DPRK, Britain and the U.S. For more information please visit: 

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/TomFowdy.htm

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