North China's Shanxi province recently introduced a raft of measures to promote the recovery and development of the service sector in the current year in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic. 

The 61 policies and measures are in response to the particular difficulties being faced by the sector. They cover eight areas – such as the precise implementation of epidemic prevention and controls, assisting targeted industries with special difficulties and providing inclusive relief and support measures. 

The inclusive relief and support for the service sector mainly include 22 specific measures in fields such as fiscal and tax, rent reduction and exemption and financial support.

For example, small and micro-sized service enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households in counties classified as high-risk areas will this year benefit from rent reductions or exemptions for six months when renting State-owned houses. 

The province also proposes 33 relief and support policies and measures for specific industries – catering, retail, tourism, road, water and rail transportation, as well as civil aviation.

As a result, this year, the municipal governments of Shanxi cities will give full subsidies for the nucleic acid testing of employees of catering enterprises.

Elsewhere, value-added tax in public transportation for buses, metros, taxis, coaches and shuttle buses will be exempt in the current year.

In the civil aviation industry, the prepayment of value-added tax by air transport enterprises will be suspended for one year.