This week, Chinese and foreign entities have affirmed many high-profile travel agreements in the culture and tourism sectors of China at the International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, as the Chinese government is all set to boost up the inbound tourism market of the country.
Over 30 million international tourists had come to China last year, up 5% compared to the year before, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. However, the volume of inbound tourists is still stunted by the number of Chinese citizens holidaying abroad, which reached almost 150 million in 2018.
Shanghai declared numerous projects proposed to draw more visitors during the CIIE, including an agreement to set up a Legoland theme park in 2023. Also, the city confirmed future plans to collaborate with the organizers of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a British car show, to arrange an auto festival in Songjiang District in October 2020.
Chinese fintech leader, Ant Financial, for the meantime, proclaimed that it will let international citizens to connect overseas bank cards to the digital payments app of Alipay, in a bid to offer greater convenience to the incoming tourists.
At the International Cooperation Forum of the expo on Culture and Tourism Consumption, tourism industry practitioners from about 11 countries including Denmark, Japan, and the United Kingdom have shared their experiences creating culture and tourism brands and also talked about how similar projects could be developed in China.
We’re not trying to bring something here from Japan,” Kitagawa told Sixth Tone. “It’s just to tell our friends in China that there is precious culture everywhere — some of the culture we take for granted can be explored and presented through modern art. We just want to bring this kind of thinking and approach.”
