China’s 10 Departments Move to Boost RV Consumption

Ten Chinese government departments have jointly rolled out a package of nine measures to stimulate recreational vehicle (RV) consumption, clearing regulatory bottlenecks across the entire ownership chain in a bid to lift domestic demand. The policy, forwarded by the State Council General Office as Guoban Han [2026] No. 82 and released on September 18, was reported by the state-run People’s Daily on September 26.

The measures cover the full RV consumption chain—supply quality, registration and scrapping, road access and parking, campground construction, tourism products, rentals, financing, promotion, and safety management—and represent one of Beijing’s most targeted attempts yet to convert a fast-growing leisure trend into a measurable consumer-spending driver.

A Problem-Oriented Package

Drafted on September 13 and issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism alongside nine other agencies, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Transport, the document explicitly aims to implement the leadership’s decisions on “expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption.” According to the official text published on gov.cn, it is designed to “clear bottlenecks” in RV consumption and “cultivate RV camping as a new business format.”

The policy defines RVs broadly to cover three vehicle types—self-propelled motorhomes (旅居车), towed caravans (旅居挂车), and camping vehicles (宿营车)—signaling that regulators intend to address the segment as a distinct consumer category rather than as a niche subset of passenger cars.

Easing the Ownership Chain

Among the most concrete provisions are changes to scrapping rules, which industry observers had long flagged as a deterrent to purchase. Under the measures, small and micro non-commercial self-propelled RVs will follow the usage-period rules for equivalent passenger cars—meaning no mandatory scrapping age. Rental self-propelled RVs see their permitted service life extended from 15 to 25 years, and towed caravans from 15 to 20 years.

The package also calls for revising the national standard on motor vehicle types to improve RV registration, and encourages localities to add C6 driver’s license test sites, lowering the threshold for towing a caravan. On parking and transit, cities are urged to ensure RVs can legally use urban roads, to account for RV height in the placement of height-restriction barriers, and to build concentrated RV parking areas. Expressway service areas are specifically encouraged to add RV zones offering water, charging, and sewage-disposal services.

According to Xinhua, the measures “adhere to a problem-oriented approach” and cover “the full RV consumption chain.” The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the lead drafting department, said the nine measures were intended to “release RV consumption potential and better meet the people’s growing needs for a better life.”

Land and Campground Reform at the Center

Perhaps the most structurally significant element is the approach to campground land supply, which had been a persistent obstacle. The measures require RV campground space needs to be coordinated within territorial-space planning and incorporated into the natural-resources management “one map.” Simple campgrounds without hardened surfaces may be managed according to their original land category, while qualifying campgrounds may obtain land by allocation; others may secure it through long-term lease or a lease-first-then-transfer arrangement.

This flexibility is aimed at unlocking both public and private investment in the facilities whose absence has been central to the friction between RV travelers and local governments. The policy also encourages repurposing idle and inefficient resources for public campgrounds and promotes standardized, quality-oriented campground rating management.

Regulating Conduct, Promoting Growth

The measures pair expansion with discipline. They direct localities to crack down on illegal open flames, disorderly parking, unauthorized structures, private water and electricity hookups, littering, and damage to public facilities and green spaces, while advocating “Leave No Trace” camping. Camping projects are prohibited in natural-disaster-prone, ecologically important, and sensitive or fragile areas—a provision that reflects the environmental and safety ministries’ role in the drafting.

The business-side provisions are equally broad. Rental firms are encouraged to offer credit-based deposit-free and cross-city return services, and to deploy AI and VR tools for smart recommendations and remote guidance. Insurers are guided toward new products such as accompanying-luggage insurance and in-vehicle property insurance. Regions with car-purchase restrictions are encouraged to shift “from purchase management to use management,” and the policy calls for the “batch rollout of RV-consumption-friendly destinations.”

A Market Ripe for Policy

The measures land amid rapid growth in a segment that was once a niche pursuit. As the Guangming Net commentary noted, China’s self-propelled RV sales first surpassed 20,000 units in 2025, and cumulative registrations in the first half of 2026 exceeded 12,000 units, up 32.6 percent year-on-year. At one campground in Mohe, Heilongjiang, annual RV receptions rose from 1,530 in 2021 to 4,580 in 2025—nearly tripling in four years.

But the same commentary warned that growth has outpaced rules, citing rising complaints on People’s Daily’s public message boards about disorderly parking, wastewater dumping, and conflicts with residents. It noted that some areas—such as Pu’er, Ruili, and Beihai—have begun experimenting with tiered pricing and three-tier campground systems, the kind of local models the national policy now seeks to formalize.

Analysis: A Test of Use-Side Management

The package is notable less for any single provision than for its framing. By addressing registration, parking, land, rentals, insurance, and conduct together, Beijing is treating RV consumption as an ecosystem problem rather than a demand problem—an acknowledgment that consumer spending here has been constrained by infrastructure and rules, not by appetite.

The “purchase management to use management” language echoes a broader shift in Chinese auto policy, where regulators have moved to ease constraints on ownership and use as a lever for consumption. If implemented consistently, the land-supply reforms could be the most consequential element, since campground scarcity has been the binding constraint on the entire experience.

Still, the measures are largely enabling rather than mandatory. Much depends on how quickly local governments act on parking rules, licensing sites, and land approvals—areas where coordination across ten departments at the national level does not automatically translate into execution at the municipal level.

What’s Next

The policy directs all regions and departments to “refine work measures” and ensure implementation, and calls for an improved public-opinion environment around RV travel. The clearest early signals to watch will be the pace of C6 license-site additions, the first batch of designated “RV-consumption-friendly destinations,” and whether localities move on the campground land-supply provisions.

For now, the message is clear: China wants its growing RV culture to spend more freely—and believes the way to get there is to make the road, the parking lot, and the campsite as welcoming as the open highway.

Originally drafted on September 13 and formally released on September 18, the package has already been circulated widely across state media, including a China Economic Net reprint of the People’s Daily report—a sign of the priority Beijing attaches to translating the RV boom into durable consumer spending.