Guangxi to introduce tax refund policy

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China will introduce a tax refund policy on Dec 11 for foreigners staying in China within 183 days and people from Hongkong, Macao, and Taiwan.

Nanning, Guilin, and Fangchenggang will be the first cities to carry out the policy with a minimum refund amount of 500 yuan ($73) and a refund rate of 11 percent. The money can be refunded in cash or via bank transfer.

"In order to better inform the passengers of our policy, we have prepared handbooks in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese," said Lai Fuqiang, with the autonomous region's culture and tourism department, adding that Guangxi receives a large number of inbound tourists each year.

According to local authorities, Guangxi received over 5.12 million in-bound visitors last year, creating $2.396 billion of forex tourist consumption in which 20.9 percent was spent on shopping.