The municipal government of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province releases a program to develop the nighttime economy and promote consumption. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The municipal government of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province recently released a program to develop the nighttime economy and promote consumption, according to local media reports.

The nighttime economy refers to service sector activity between 6 pm and 6 am, which includes shopping, dining, tours, entertainment, studying, films and television, and relaxation.

The program lays out eight nighttime consumption landmarks in Xiamen including some of the city's well known shopping malls and creative art zones, such as Gulangyu Island, Zhongshan Road and Zengcuoan.

The city will continue to improve infrastructure and public services, as well as hold a dazzling array of events in the nighttime consumption clusters, according to the program.

China's nighttime consumption has seen growth recently. Since June, the market for nighttime food delivery services has significantly expanded and seen a growing legion of takeaway delivery drivers, according to data from Eleme, Alibaba's flagship takeaway-ordering app.

China's night catering consumption jumped 47 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, 2 percent higher than the daytime growth, according to a report released by the China Tourism Academy and Meituan, a Yelp-like Chinese online city guide.