Factory floors produce visitor intrigue

The repurposed giant steel furnaces of Beijing's Shougang Park no longer produce metal, but they have become a draw for tourists. In Wuhan's Optics Valley in Hubei province, visitors explore the technologies behind modern communications, while in Guangdong's smart factories, robotic production lines have become attractions in their own right. Together, they reflect the rapid rise of industrial tourism across China.

Long associated with smokestacks, assembly lines and production targets, factories are increasingly becoming destinations. Travelers are no longer content with simply viewing landscapes or historical monuments. Many, particularly younger visitors, want to understand how products are made, how technologies work and how China's industrial transformation has reshaped cities and communities.

Against this backdrop, in May, seven central government departments issued a directive aimed at accelerating the development of industrial tourism nationwide. The policy, jointly released by agencies including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, lays out eight key tasks covering heritage surveys, conservation, product development, cultural interpretation, educational integration, promotion and safety management.

The directive calls for nationwide surveys and documentation of industrial heritage resources, along with the establishment of graded and categorized databases to clarify the value and development potential of each site.

It emphasizes the principle of "protection first, rational utilization and minimal intervention", ensuring that core structures, spatial patterns and authentic industrial features are preserved. Rather than treating industrial heritage as static relics, the policy seeks to safeguard its historical integrity while allowing for appropriate reuse.

The directive also highlights the importance of interpreting industrial cultural values, including craftsmanship, entrepreneurship and innovation, through exhibitions, creative content and cultural products. It further encourages the development of branded cultural goods, including "guochao" (Chinachic) products, to bring industrial heritage into contemporary consumption spaces.

On the tourism side, the policy promotes diversified formats. These include heritage-based redevelopment projects that adapt old industrial sites through creative design and new business models; factory tours that open production lines for public viewing, hands-on participation and product customization; and smart tourism experiences powered by digital technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.

Service quality is another key focus. The directive calls for improved infrastructure, professional guide training, better integration with urban transport systems, and enhanced multilingual services and tax refund facilitation to support inbound tourism.

The document signals a shift in thinking that industrial tourism is no longer viewed as a niche form of factory sightseeing. Instead, policymakers increasingly see it as a platform for integrating culture, tourism and industry while showcasing the achievements of Chinese modernization.

According to Hou Yanquan, an associate researcher with the strategic planning institute at the Industrial Culture Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China has more than 140 national-level industrial tourism demonstration bases. Industry forecasts suggest the sector could maintain annual growth of around 18 percent through 2029, with market value potentially exceeding 300 billion yuan ($44.5 billion).

Behind those figures lies a deeper change in consumer behavior.

Gong Jian, a professor at the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Central China Normal University, said that tourism was largely associated with mountains, ancient towns and scenic attractions in the past, but today's visitors increasingly seek knowledge and participation alongside leisure. Young travelers want to understand the technologies behind new energy vehicles, optical fibers, industrial robots and advanced manufacturing systems, Gong said.

The trend reflects a growing demand for authenticity in tourism experiences. Unlike purpose-built attractions, industrial tourism often takes place in real production environments. Visitors encounter working factories, preserved workshops, original machinery — and the people who operate them.

"What visitors see is not a replica or a staged performance. They see real production sites, real processes and real labor," Gong said.

The transformation of China's manufacturing sector has further expanded the appeal. Smart factories, automated workshops and digital production systems have replaced many traditional images of heavy industry, creating environments that combine technology, innovation and education.

Ma Xiaolong, a tourism professor at Nankai University, said projects that offer immersive and participatory experiences have performed particularly well.

He identified intelligent manufacturing facilities, traditional craft enterprises and revitalized industrial heritage sites as among the fastest-growing categories.

Broader vision

For years, many industrial tourism projects focused primarily on factory visits and product displays. The new framework places industrial culture at the center. The emphasis shifts from simply viewing equipment to understanding the broader stories behind industrialization, technological innovation, craftsmanship and social development.

Gong described this as a move from treating industrial tourism as a tourism product to viewing it as a form of cultural interpretation.

The challenge, however, is ensuring that development does not come at the expense of heritage value, experts cautioned.

Industrial sites often contain layers of historical, technological and social significance that extend far beyond their physical structures, they said.

Gong said that industrial heritage should be understood as an integrated cultural landscape rather than a collection of isolated buildings.

He pointed to Wuhan Iron and Steel Group as an illustration of this approach. The company remains in full operation today, with its active modern production lines running alongside carefully preserved industrial heritage, including a blast furnace museum and smart manufacturing demonstration lines. Together, the operational plant and heritage attractions host tens of thousands of visitors annually, local authorities reported.

This integration of active production, historical memory and urban development makes it a powerful example of how industrial sites can become meaningful cultural landscapes, Gong said.

New audiences

The policy arrives as the market for industrial tourism continues to diversify, said Zhang Zuqun, a staff member at the School of Arts and Design at Beijing Institute of Technology and an expert in industrial heritage evaluation.

Study tours have emerged as one of the most important growth segments. Educational reforms emphasizing labor education, practical learning and scientific literacy have increased demand for experiential learning opportunities outside traditional classrooms, Zhang said.

Industrial sites offer students direct exposure to manufacturing, engineering and technological innovation. Family travelers, photography enthusiasts, cultural tourists and corporate groups have also become important audiences, he said.

Zhang added that consumer demand has been increasingly centered on immersive experiences, knowledge acquisition and cultural engagement rather than simple sightseeing.

Yet meeting these rising expectations is no simple task.

The challenge, Gong said, is avoiding two extremes. One is turning industrial tourism into a technical lecture that overwhelms visitors with information. The other is reducing industrial heritage to generic commercial developments stripped of their historical character.

He said that successful projects must balance technology with storytelling, education with entertainment, and heritage with innovation.

Gong said that the policy's deeper significance lies in cultivating cultural confidence and industrial identity. By opening up production sites and preserving industrial memory, the policy will help people understand that Chinese-style modernization was created generation by generation by workers, engineers, entrepreneurs, researchers and urban residents.

Factories, mines and workshops, he said, are becoming places where the stories of industrial development and modern China itself can be experienced firsthand.

Professor Ma said the directive provides a crucial foundation for industrial tourism to move beyond novelty check-ins toward technological knowledge, cultural depth and emotional resonance. By encouraging branding, content development and diversified formats, the policy helps shift competition from resource advantages to IP and distinctiveness, he said.