China has said officials can use nice hotels for events, reversing part of an austerity order that President Xi Jinping put in place shortly after taking power in 2012.
Communist Party and government groups can use luxury hotels to hold meetings, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement that lays out a three-year plan for boosting domestic tourism.
The ministry added in the Monday statement that the decision is intended to give top hotels more business.
Xi has made eliminating corruption and what he terms “hedonism” central to his style of government. That campaign against graft continues to this day, with China on track to bust a record number of senior cadres in 2023.
See: Xi’s Graft Crackdown Set to Snare Record Number of Top Officials
Xi has even drilled down to what officials have for dinner, ordering them to limit meals to “four dishes and a soup.” His demand they avoid posh hotels resulted in lost business for the hospitality industry, state media outlets have reported.
China’s economy has struggled to regain its momentum after three years of stringent rules to combat the coronavirus and a lingering property crisis. Consumers traveled and spent less over a recent major holiday than the government had hoped, though there were signs that people were more willing to spend in major cities.
On Wednesday, the government reported a pickup in consumer spending and industrial output for October, providing a needed boost to the world’s second-largest economy.
