On January 22, the State Council Information Office held a regular policy briefing to introduce the "Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy and Improving the Well-being of the Elderly" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").

It was introduced that the "Opinions" focused on diversified needs and cultivated potential industries. Seven industries with good prospects and high potential, including elderly goods manufacturing, smart and healthy aging, rehabilitation assistive devices, anti-aging industry, pension finance, tourism services, and aging-friendly transformation, were developed with effective policies and measures.

It was introduced that developing the silver economy is a practical need to achieve the people's aspirations for a better life. China has nearly 300 million elderly people. With the continuous improvement of China's economic and social development level, the desire and demand of the elderly for improving their quality of life is constantly increasing. In particular, the "new elderly group" represented by the "post-60s generation" is driving the transformation of the demand structure from survival-oriented to development-oriented. This includes not only traditional physical needs such as "clothing, food, housing, transportation, and use", but also service needs such as health and pension. There are also new needs for "poetry and distance" such as art, sports, recreation, and entertainment. Developing the silver economy is conducive to adapting to this development trend and meeting the multi-level and diversified product and service needs of the people.

In recent years, with economic and social development and the acceleration of aging, tourism is no longer exclusive to young people. The "silver-haired generation" has also actively embraced "poetry and distance". This is reflected in the significant increase in the proportion of老年人in tourism service demand, the significant improvement in characteristic elderly services in tourism service supply, and the significant increase in the proportion of silver tourism in the tourism market. To better tap this potential market, the "Opinions" focus on diversified needs, encourage the development of family tour products, expand and promote theme products such as nostalgia tourism and youth tourism; in response to the shortcomings of elderly tourism safety protection, develop elderly travel insurance business; focus on optimizing resource integration, propose the establishment of a nationwide elderly travel industry cooperation platform, cultivate elderly travel destinations, and carry out elderly travel promotion activities.

Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen

Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan

Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong