The Thematic Exhibition on Culture & Tourism Services at the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (2023 CIFTIS) will open in Hall 1 and Hall 2 of Shougang Park on September 2. With the theme "Technology Empowers New Cultural Tourism, Creativity Stimulates New Consumption", the exhibition will be jointly held by the Publicity Department of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau, and Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, and organized by Gehua Media Group. 817 enterprises, including 47 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders, will participate in the exhibition. At the same time, nearly 200 events such as cultural performances, lectures, salons, and interactive experience activities will be held during the exhibition to showcase the latest achievements of Beijing in building itself as a national cultural center and its successful practices in promoting the high-quality development of the cultural industry.

New integration and new scenarios

reflect significant progress in the development of cultural industry

Sticking to the strategy - "Technology empowers culture, culture energizes city" and focusing on integrated development, Beijing has created new scenarios for cultural integration, injecting fresh momentum into the high-quality development of the cultural industry.

As one of the most popular thematic exhibitions for visitors at every CIFTIS, the Thematic Exhibition on Culture & Tourism Services will still feature a wealth of culture-technology integration projects and digital experiences. In the main exhibition area, the "Central Axis of Beijing" series will perfectly fuse tradition and modernity. There will be not only an immersive multi-scenario experience space jointly created by industry-leading enterprises such as BlueFocus, K-DESIGN, Tencent, BOE, Gehua Media Group, Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd., and Capital Museum, and a magnificent representation of the three scenarios - namely the spectacular Central Axis, the Central Axis in the metaverse, and the Central Axis in Four Seasons - through technologies like naked-eye 3D display, satellite remote sensing, digital twin, and cloud rendering, but also the Central Axis on gingko leaves created by an inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage leaf painting to show the timeless charm of the Axis, and an exquisite Central Axis post box that provides personalized voice postcard for visitors. In addition, for the first time, the panorama of a digital 3D restored replica of the ancient Tongzhou Town will be presented to offer visitors an immersive experience of the vicissitudes of the millennium-old Grand Canal. Also on display will be a video titled Four Seasons of Yuanmingyuan Garden, which features cinematic quality. These exhibits demonstrate that technologies provide new opportunities for the creative transformation and innovation development of excellent traditional Chinese culture.

Behind the rich scenarios is the great strength of Beijing in the high-quality development of the cultural industry and the deep integration between culture and technology. In recent years, Beijing has stepped up efforts to refine the top-level design of the cultural industry, build a 1+N+X policy system for the industry, promote Culture Plus integrated development, boost the high-quality development of cultural industry parks, and foster excellent cultural enterprises, all of which have produced impressive results. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Beijing's enterprises above the designated size created an added value of 450.92 billion yuan in 2021, accounting for 11% of the city's GDP and ranking top in China. In the first half of 2023, Beijing's cultural industry earned revenue of 953.53 billion yuan, an increase of 14.8% from a year ago, sustaining its growth trend. The city boasts 11 national culture and sci-tech integration demonstration bases, the most in China. In the January to June period this year, the total revenue of Beijing's cultural enterprises specializing in new business forms grew 19.2% year-on-year to 642.08 billion yuan, making up 68.8% of all cultural enterprises' revenue in the city, up 2 percentage points from a year ago.

New quality products and new business forms

deliver more wonderful cultural experiences to consumers

Sticking to people-centric creation by high standards, Beijing has made "Watching Outstanding Performances in Beijing" an important part of its effort to develop itself as a national cultural center over recent years. It has reaped substantial social and economic benefits from the creation of quality cultural products. In 2022, the revenue of Beijing's cultural industry from content creation reached 480.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.2%. In the first half of this year, the revenue stood at 272.29 billion yuan, up 33.1% year-on-year. An abundance of quality cultural products created in Beijing has enriched the people's lives. Ten of these products have won the ‘Five Ones’ Project Award during the 16th Selection of Cultural and Ethical Progress Works, and Beijing has received the Wenhua Award for four consecutive years. The city ranks first in China in terms of the number of audio-visual works in the radio and television networks. Beijing-produced films claimed all the top ten spots in the box office chart, with a total income of 47.4 billion yuan.

(Source: CIFTIS News)