Beijing fancies fancy hotels

Beijing wants local governments to make more bookings at fancy hotels and restaurants.

On Monday, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a three-year plan to upgrade China's domestic tourism industry.

• The plan aims to stimulate domestic tourism demand, in order to boost consumption and revitalize the economy.

What caught our eye: One of the 30 measures in the plan called for local governments to prioritize fancy hotels and restaurants when booking venues for government conferences, trainings, and other events.

To make it easier for officials and state-owned enterprises to book fancy venues, the measures will:

• Include all hotels and restaurants with star ratings in governments' and government-affiliated entities' public procurement vendor systems.

Get smart: This a pretty dramatic departure from the calls for frugality that characterized Xi Jinping's early years in power.

• Such a move shows that economic concerns increasingly dominate official thinking.

Get smarter: The call for action is also unlikely to succeed, given that cash-strapped local governments don't have deep pockets to spend on external gatherings.