Nanchong becomes hot spot for culture and tourism projects

Located in the middle reaches of the Jialing River, Nanchong in Sichuan province is famous for its culture and tourism resources. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A conference on the development of culture and tourism was held on Sunday, July 28 in Nanchong, Sichuan province, drawing more than 200 enterprises in the field.

The city signed agreements on 15 projects with culture and tourism enterprises during the conference, with the investment totaling 20.17 billion yuan ($2.93 billion). Among them, 10 projects have an investment of more than 1 billion yuan.

The projects, located in the counties and districts in Nanchong, include wetland parks, European-style towns, Sichuan liquor experience towns, and international schools.

Comrade Zhu De's Former Residence Memorial in Yilong county, Nanchong, Sichuan province is a site to commemorate Zhu De, one of the main founders of the People's Liberation Army. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Yang Caihu, chairman of Beijing Sihai Scientific Industrial and Trade Co Ltd, said that the company plans to invest 1.5 billion yuan to build a Spring Festival-themed street in Langzhong and invest 2.5 billion yuan to build a hibiscus culture industrial park in Yingshan county.

"The conference marks the beginning of the rapid development of the culture and tourism industry in Nanchong, and it is just the right time for entrepreneurs to invest and develop projects here," he said.

"Nanchong is striving to build itself into a sub-center of the province in terms of culture and tourism over the next five years," said Zhao Xiuqing, director of Nanchong's bureau for culture, radio and television, and tourism.

She said that the city will mainly develop five calling cards, which are Red Culture, the culture of Three Kingdoms, silk culture, ecological culture, and Spring Festival culture.

Langzhong Ancient City, one of the most famous cultural cities in Sichuan province, is the birthplace of the Spring Festival holiday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

During the conference, Langzhong received a gold award due to its outstanding achievements in culture and tourism development. Other distinctive towns, villages, and bed-and-breakfasts were also awarded at the conference.

The output value of the city's culture and tourism industry reached 75 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 17 percent. It received 57.37 million tourists last year, generating total revenues of 57.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent.

A total of 44 major tourism projects are under construction in Nanchong this year. The city's tourism revenue in the first half of 2019 reached 35.9 billion yuan, an increase of more than 21.8 percent year-on-year.