Heilongjiang province recently announced that the cities of Harbin, Heihe and Suifen will be used for a province-wide tax refund experiment, starting July 1, which allows foreign tourists and people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who stay on the Chinese mainland for no more than 183 days to qualify for an 11-percent rebate on the sales tax for goods purchased at designated department stores.

It also states that the minimum purchase for this VAT tax is 500 yuan ($76.67) per day at any one store and that the refund is valid for any purchase made at least 90 days before departure and that the products are not used upon departure. The authorities say that this new refund and the new 72-hour visa-free scheme are expected to increase Harbin's tourism and business. That visa policy allows travelers from 51 countries a chance to stay for 72 hours without a visa if they enter via the airport or a sea port.

The National Statistics Bureau reports that the province had 28,562,800 tourists in the first quarter of 2016, for a year-on-year increase of 16.47 percent, and bringing in 39,016 billion yuan, for a year-on-year increase of 12.27 percent for the period.