Jiangsu boosts high-quality cultural and tourism development with integrated innovation

Xinhua News Agency reports that Jiangsu province has achieved steady and high-quality growth in cultural and tourism industries, which serve as vital components of lifestyle services. The sector fuels comprehensive consumption expansion, stabilises employment and optimises people’s living standards, forming a key driving force for regional economic and social advancement.

Jiangsu has rolled out multi-dimensional measures to expand and upgrade cultural and tourism consumption. The province’s cultural industry value added has consistently ranked second nationwide for years. Cross-region cultural and tourism consumption via UnionPay channels maintains an average annual growth rate above 10 per cent in the past three years, accounting for roughly 10 per cent of the national total and holding the top position across the country. In 2025, Jiangsu received 1.2 billion domestic and overseas tourists, with total tourism revenue reaching 1.48 trillion yuan, both recording solid year-on-year increases.

Targeted policy support underpins market vitality. The province has launched a three-year action plan for high-quality cultural and tourism development, introducing tailored incentives for commercial performances, night-time consumption and museum upgrading. Special financial tools and 165 million yuan of dedicated funds have been deployed to subsidise emerging business forms including concerts, intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products and digital entertainment.

Diversified events effectively stimulate market demand. Provincial and municipal authorities jointly organise seasonal tourism promotion campaigns, rural tourism festivals and cultural bazaars to unlock consumption potential across holidays and vacation periods. Sports and tourism integration delivers prominent results. The province has launched over 150 cross-regional tourism routes and more than 2,100 preferential initiatives linked with local sports events. Tourist reception volume at A-level scenic spots surged 15 per cent on home match weekends in early 2026.

Jiangsu accelerates in-depth integration of culture and tourism to enrich high-quality supplies. With over 1.18 million cultural and tourism resources, 81 per cent are humanistic landscape resources. The province advances integrated development models such as performance-plus-tourism and exhibition-plus-tourism. In 2025, Jiangsu hosted 201,600 commercial performances, ranking third nationwide, while museums received over 140 million visitors, topping the national list.

The province leads the country in the number of 5A-level scenic spots, national tourism resorts, tourism and leisure blocks, and night-time cultural and tourism consumption clusters. It fosters diversified business formats including red tourism, ecological tourism and industrial tourism, and develops characteristic products such as water tourism routes, self-driving camps and themed tourism trains. Multiple rural destinations have obtained UNESCO World Tourism Organization recognition.

Digital empowerment reshapes industrial development. Jiangsu has implemented action plans for smart tourism and artificial intelligence application in cultural and tourism sectors. A batch of digital cultural relic exhibitions, immersive experience spaces and metaverse tourism projects have been launched, creating new online and offline consumption scenarios.

The province continuously elevates the influence of its iconic “Water Charm Jiangsu” brand. It promotes high-quality cultural and tourism IPs, hosts flagship cultural events, and advances the construction of national cultural parks along the Yangtze and Grand Canal. Integrated online and offline marketing campaigns generate over 15 billion public exposures. Enhanced international exchanges and overseas promotion drive inbound tourism growth. In 2025, inbound tourist arrivals and tourism foreign exchange revenue achieved substantial year-on-year increases.

Standardised market supervision and refined services further optimise the business environment. Full-chain regulatory mechanisms and special rectification actions maintain orderly market operations. Smart tourism platforms and personalised services including digital tour guides and airport service centres deliver user-friendly travel experiences, sustaining the healthy and vibrant development of Jiangsu’s cultural and tourism industry.