Shanghai to have first skyrail over Huangpu River
Shanghai will build a skyrail across the Huangpu River for people to enjoy the view of the "mother river" and skylines from the air, authorities announced at a tourism investment promoting conference on Tuesday.
The air corridor called "Heart of Huangpu River" will link the West Bund Financial Hub in Xuhui District and the World Expo Park in the Pudong New Area, according to Wang Haimin, chairman of the China Tourism Group, developer of the project.
He said the skyrail is expected to be a must-see destination for tourists in Shanghai.
An artist's rendition of the first skyrail over the Huangpu River
Meanwhile, 28 new cultural and tourism projects with a total investment of 108 billion yuan (US$15.69 billion) were released during the 2023 Shanghai Tourism Investment Promotion Conference on Tuesday.
It marked a step forward towards the city's goal of building the Asia-Pacific Tourism Investment Gateway, and is expected to further boost the development confidence of the city's culture and tourism industry, and inject robust vitality into the cultural and tourism industry.
Another 96 bank credit projects with credit line worth 100 billion yuan were released during the conference.
The 28 projects signed cover four cultural tourism clusters – red cultural tourism, fashion cultural tourism, haipai (Shanghai-style) cultural tourism and Jiangnan (regions in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River) cultural tourism.
On the list are the Baoshan International Art Center, a hotel and shopping village project at the core area of Shanghai International Resort, the second phase of Zhaojialou Ancient Town, the renovation and expansion of Shanghai Confucian Temple, West Bund Convention and Exhibition Center, a cultural, commercial and tourism complex in Yuyuan Garden scenic area, and an international cultural and tourism resort in Jinshan District.
Jiangnan Culture and Art Village
The guideline of 2023 Shanghai Tourism Investment Promotion was released at the same time, and a number of tourism investment promotion projects such as Wusong Century-old Historical Block, Shanghai Film & Television Park Phase II, Shanghai International Cruise Tourism Resort Service Center, Yexie Xingda Rural Pastoral Complex, Qingxi Country Park Phase II, Chenjia Town Country Park, Jiangnan Culture and Art Village, Bihai Jinsha Scenic Area Upgrade, and Er Lu Cultural Town are on the list.
Eying the goal of the Asia-Pacific Tourism Investment Gateway and the unparalleled opportunity resulting from cultural and tourism recovery, Shanghai will further boost confidence, expand consumption, spur investment and stabilize growth, said Fang Shizhong, director of the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.
The aim is to speed up the creation of the central node of domestic circulation and the link of domestic and international markets, lift Shanghai's core competitiveness as a world-famous tourism city, said Fang.
Shanghai is creating the Asia-Pacific Tourism Investment Gateway and making it the center and first option of tourism investment with high level of openness.
Chenjia Town Country Park
In 2022, the city's major tourism investment amounted to 19.66 billion yuan.
The investment in the Dingke Community Complex Project, Bingang Commercial Center Project, Ice and Snow World Project, and Lego Theme Park Resort was more than 500 million yuan in the fourth quarter respectively.
According to the data released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in January, the number of global international tourists in 2022 should double that of 2021, reaching 900 million people, returning to 63 percent of the pre-epidemic level.
In the next five years, Shanghai will try to attract tens of millions of tourists. The total annual tourism revenue will be doubled, and the number of overnight foreign tourists will be ranked first in China, according to the blueprint.
The added value of the tourism industry will account for 6 percent of Shanghai's GDP by that time.
Attendees from home and abroad have voiced strong confidence and expectation for investing in Shanghai's culture and tourism sectors.
Puy du Fou, a popular theme park in France, is building a complex featuring an immersive theater, supporting restaurants and facilities in Xuhui District, and the project is expected to open to the public by the end of this year.
It will feature about 50 scenes and take audiences on an immersive experience.
"Shanghai has the most mature cultural industry in China, thus it is made our first destination outside Europe to develop our project," said Geoffroy Ladet, CEO of Puy du Fou's Asian subsidiary.
"The Chinese market has huge a potential, and audiences in Shanghai are easy to accept new types of shows which are not so traditional," he added.
An artist's rendition of the immersive theater of Puy du Fou in Shanghai
