New route toward being globally influential city

Chengdu aims to take advantage of its long history to develop itself into a city known around the world for its rich and profound culture. The city is promoting the integrated development of its creative, cultural, tourism and events industries in order to realize this goal, according to a three-year plan released earlier this year.

Creative and cultural hub

Chengdu is seeking to promote innovation in its cultural industry, which covers media, film and television, design, fashion, music and the arts. The city is also investing in tourism, information services, conventions, education and consultancy. It will construct a system with high additional value, originality and strong potential in the future, officials said.

By 2020, the creative and cultural industry's added value in Chengdu is expected to surpass 180 billion yuan ($25.5 billion), contributing about 10 percent to the city's GDP.

Tourist destination

Chengdu plans to expand its influence in the tourism industry by enhancing its five calling cards, namely being the home of giant pandas, the birthplace of jiaozi - the world's earliest paper currency - and its cross-city eco-friendly, leisurely lifestyle and delicious food. The city will introduce more high-quality tourism projects and multinational tourism companies with global influence. There are 44 major tourism projects under construction in the city, with a total investment value of about 129.52 billion yuan.

The city will promote exchanges with its sister cities around the world, non-governmental organizations and international tourism agencies. Total tourism revenue is expected to reach 580 billion yuan in 2020.

Competition host

Chengdu is building top-quality public sports facilities, developing high-level competitions with influence, and promoting the integration of culture, commerce, tourism and sports industries. It will also recruit professional competition management and operation teams. Significant progress will be made by 2020, officials said.

Culinary delights

Chengdu will optimize its layout of food suppliers, introduce more international food companies, develop its food industry, organize more food festivals and promote local culinary culture. By 2020, the city aims to become a center of food promotion worldwide with food culture exchanges and a standards system for Sichuan cuisine standards, as well as a hub for training for food-related professionals. Retail sales generated by the city's catering industry is projected to surpass 110 billion yuan in 2020.

Music city

Chengdu will promote the building and renovation of art facilities, such as arts centers, theaters, music halls and outdoor music venues, as well as endeavor to attract famous orchestras, performing companies and artistic competitions.

By 2020, the number of seats in indoor music venues is expected to surpass 30,000 and the number of international musical events to exceed 30. The annual growth of the music industry is projected to remain at 20 percent with an output value planned to top 57 billion yuan.

Exhibition venue

Chengdu will attract more top exhibitions and conventions, related operations companies and service providers, and build high-level venues.

By 2020, the city is expected to hold 1,000 major exhibitions and conventions annually. It will have 10 exhibition projects certified by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry and 25 conventions that meet the standards of the International Congress and Convention Association.