Decoding Magic City | Shanghai Cultural and Tourism Market: Strong Heat Rising, Empowering Shencheng to Enhance Consumer Attraction Cultural and Tourism | Shanghai | Market
Since the beginning of this year, the recovery momentum of Shanghai's cultural and tourism industry has been strong, with cultural and tourism integration extending the depth and breadth of cultural and tourism consumption, and "technology+cultural and tourism" expanding new scenarios and spaces for cultural and tourism consumption. Based on consumption data, industrial investment, and major events, cultural tourism has become one of the important areas for Shanghai to build a central node in the domestic circulation and a strategic link between domestic and international dual circulation.
Overlooking the intersection of Suzhou River and Huangpu River from the air. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fang Zhe
"We will adhere to starting from the most resource and advantageous areas in Shanghai, transforming urban resources into cultural and tourism resources, promoting the comprehensive enhancement of the city's core competitiveness and cultural soft power, and enhancing the dissemination and influence of Chinese civilization." said Fang Shizhong, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.
Cultural and tourism integration: Cultural and tourism consumption has depth and popularity
According to statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, in the first half of this year, more than 670 exhibitions were held in 162 museums and 98 art galleries in Shanghai, receiving nearly 15 million visitors, returning to the level of the same period in 2019. More than 22000 commercial performances were held in the city, with nearly 12 million spectators, achieving a box office revenue of 832 million yuan.
On the evening of July 14th, visitors watched the jade cong at the Shanghai Museum's "Empirical China: Songze Liangzhu Civilization Archaeological Exhibition". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xin Mengchen
In May and June of this year, the occupancy rates of star rated hotels in Shanghai reached 66% and 64% respectively, basically recovering to the same period in 2019. Shanghai International Tourism Resort has received over 13 million tourists and achieved a total tourism revenue of nearly 9 billion yuan. Shanghai Sheshan National Tourism Resort has received over 6.65 million tourists and achieved a total tourism revenue of 878 million yuan, both of which are significantly higher than the same period in 2019. According to the consumption big data of China UnionPay, the total tourism consumption in Shanghai in the first half of the year was 478.453 billion yuan.
While cultural and tourism consumption is actively growing, the market is showing a clear characteristic of "shaping tourism with culture and promoting culture with tourism", and the consumer experience has depth and depth. The Shanghai Museum's "From Botticelli to Van Gogh - National Gallery of Fine Arts Collection Exhibition" has driven urban comprehensive consumption by over 1:15, with visitors from afar among the audience. The tour guide of Shanghai Chunqiu International Travel Agency Co., Ltd., holding a double certificate, led the group to visit museums such as the Shanghai History Museum to explain, attracting many tourists to participate in the "Shanghai style urban archaeology" route.
The new trend of cultural and tourism integration is still ongoing during the peak summer consumption season. People can gain richer social, night tourism, cultural and creative experiences in cultural venues; I also immerse myself in Shanghai's red culture, Shanghai style culture, Jiangnan culture, and fashion culture while wandering through the city.
Starting from July 16th, the Shanghai Museum of History welcomed tour guides with "dual certificates" to guide the tour, receiving high praise from visitors. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping
According to the Museum Office of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, from July 1st to 25th, 162 museums received 2.45 million visitors, and it is expected that the Shanghai Museum will receive a total of over 2.85 million visitors in August. The second exhibition of the Shanghai Museum's "Why China" series, "Empirical China: Songze Liangzhu Civilization Archaeological Exhibition," has received over 260000 visitors, becoming another "phenomenal" exhibition.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower Radio and TV Tower in Shanghai has launched the space culture and tourism exhibition and the virtual reality roller coaster. Since July, it has received an average of 19000 tourists every day. Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park has hosted over a hundred performances and series of activities, with a 35% increase in passenger flow compared to the same period in 2019, of which 71% are tourists from other regions. In July, Yu Garden Mall in Shanghai saw a passenger flow of more than 4 million people, and cultural and creative, catering and other featured consumption continued to rise. Shanghai Happy Valley and Maya Beach Water Park have opened super nightclubs and electronic music, with a 73% increase in visitor reception since July compared to the same period in 2019.
Technology empowers cultural and tourism consumption to expand new scenarios, spaces, and experiences
The cultural and tourism industry in Shanghai actively embraces the global digital wave, with cultural leadership and technological empowerment. Cultural and tourism consumption continues to expand into new scenarios, new spaces, and new experiences.
On site of the large-scale immersive art exhibition "Exploring the Classic of Mountains and Seas". Image provided by Qichuang Tourism Group
The large-scale immersive art exhibition "Exploring the Classic of Mountains and Seas", created by Qichuang Tourism Group, recreates the fantasy realm within the "Classic of Mountains and Seas". Since its official opening at the end of June, it has received over 30000 offline visitors and achieved ticket and other product revenue of nearly 5 million yuan. Since its launch on May 12th, the "Lost Pharaoh - Immersive Exploration Experience of the Khufu Pyramid" has received over 23000 visitors, many of whom are tourists who came from other places to experience in Shanghai. The organizers have decided to extend the exhibition period from August to October. "X-META | Time and Space of Opportunity" China-Chic Yuan Universe Theme Park has combined several virtual reality full-sense theater projects such as "Wind Rising in Luoyang". Since July this year, the total number of people experiencing "Wind Rising in Luoyang" has increased by 17.88% compared with June, and the amount of write off of such products has increased by 290.63% compared with June.
Classic cultural and museum venues ride the wings of digital transformation, bringing audiences a brand new experience. From its opening in July 2021 to June 30, 2023, the Shanghai Planetarium has received a total of 1.4047 million visitors. The venue has recently launched the "Shanghai Planetarium Digital Twin Parallel World", fully empowering science popularization exhibitions, audience services, and venue management, creating a national demonstration case of astronomy and science popularization in the metaverse, and embarking on a journey of exploring the metaverse and the vast sea of stars for visitors. According to data from the Shanghai Museum of History in the first half of the year, visitors using augmented reality navigation accounted for about 6% of the total number of visitors, which is nearly three times higher than the industry average conversion rate of 2% two years ago.
On the evening of July 15th, people visited the Shanghai Planetarium. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping
In addition, the Key Laboratory of Digital Performance Integration Innovation at Shanghai Academy of Drama and Shanghai Yue Opera jointly launched the extended reality opera "Daiyu Burial Flower", using virtual reality technology to create a mixed narrative of virtual and real space for the creation of opera exhibition works. Dozens of cultural and tourism scenes, such as Wukang Building, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Yu Garden, East Nanjing Road, have been launched. Citizens and tourists can experience them through mobile phones or augmented reality headworn devices.
In June of this year, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism released the "Action Plan for Building a New Track of Cultural and Tourism Metaverse in Shanghai", which specifies five special actions that Shanghai's cultural and tourism industry should focus on in the next three years. Shanghai will focus on urban cultural and tourism brands such as "One River, One River", "Architecture Readable", "Performing Arts World", "Come to Shanghai to See Art Exhibitions", and "Shanghai style Urban Archaeology", accelerate the gathering and development of the cultural and tourism metaverse industry in Shanghai, and lead and create new consumer demand with high-quality product supply.
Make cultural tourism the core attraction of global cities
The rising popularity of consumption confirms that the pursuit of a better life by the people is an inexhaustible driving force for the development of the cultural and tourism industry, and will also promote the flow of factors and resource allocation.
The 2nd Shanghai Tourism Investment Promotion Conference launched major cultural and tourism signed investment projects. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping
With the development of the Yangtze River Delta integration rising to the fifth anniversary of the national strategy, Shanghai held the 2023 Yangtze River Delta Culture and Tourism Alliance Joint Meeting, and the cultural and tourism authorities of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui jointly signed the 2023 Pujiang Declaration, focusing on 69 key projects such as cultural exchange, people's livelihood services, resource allocation, publicity and promotion, and cultural and tourism governance, comprehensively launching and accelerating a new round of high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta culture and tourism integration.
The 34th Shanghai Tourism Festival, which will kick off on September 16, 2023, aims to be a "holiday for the people", helping to boost confidence, expand demand, stabilize growth, and promote development. It will also set up sub venues in 12 cities in 5 provinces, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Fujian, to mutually empower the prosperity of cultural and tourism development.
The Shanghai Department of Culture and Tourism has jointly held the Second Shanghai Tourism Investment Promotion Conference and Shanghai Tourism Industry Expo, focusing on the release of 28 major cultural and tourism signed investment projects in Shanghai in 2023, attracting 5000 exhibitors and 407000 professional visitors, forming a new platform for cultural and tourism development with an open industrial chain and integrated upstream and downstream. The market entity has cast a vote of confidence in the development of Shanghai's cultural and tourism industry. In the first half of this year, Shanghai has completed a total of 8.747 billion yuan in major tourism investment.
The audience queued up to enter the exhibition hall of the Shanghai Tourism Industry Expo. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping
In the first half of this year, Shanghai imported and exported 12330 artworks at various ports, with a trade volume of 656 million yuan, an increase of 163% and 60% year-on-year, respectively; 81 foreign-related commercial exhibitions were held, a year-on-year increase of 119%. Shanghai is vigorously implementing the "going global strategy" of Shanghai produced TV dramas, audio-visual programs, anime and games, cultural and creative masterpieces, cultural performances, and original scripts, vividly interpreting China in the eyes of foreigners, Shanghai in the eyes of Chinese people, and the hometown in the eyes of Shanghai people.
Fang Shizhong introduced that Shanghai will benchmark against international first-class market entities with global resource allocation capabilities, making cultural tourism a key element in global resource allocation; Promote the deep integration of cultural creativity and technological innovation, enhance the aesthetic value and life experience of technological innovation achievements, and make cultural tourism the internal driving force of technological innovation strategies; Make every effort to build a global film and television creation center, an international important art trading center, an Asian performing arts capital, a global esports capital, a highland for the online cultural industry, and a highland for the creative design industry, making cultural tourism an important field leading the high-end industry; Highlighting the inherent characteristics of Shanghai's cultural and tourism industry as "urban, comprehensive, and international", we will deeply cultivate and cultivate red culture, Shanghai style culture, Jiangnan culture, and fashion culture, making cultural tourism the core attraction of an open hub gateway.
