Shenyang sets up 100m yuan fund for tourism growth

The government of Shenyang, capital of Northeast China’s Liaoning province, has approved a development fund worth 100 million yuan ($14.09 million) for its tourism industry, according to the local authorities.

The fund, launched by the Shenyang culture, tourism, radio, and television bureau, includes a 30 million yuan government-guided fund and a 70 million social-raised fund.

Officials said the money will be put into the city’s construction of key tourism projects, such as winter tourism and rural tourism facilities, ecological tourism projects and the construction of homestay accommodation.

In recent years, Shenyang has seen rapid and healthy growth of its tourism sector. During the first nine months of this year, Shenyang received 77.96 million tourists, marking year-on-year growth of 17.4 percent.

During the seven-day National Day holiday this year, Shenyang received 9.23 million tourists, an increase of 11.5 percent on the previous year. This generated tourism revenue of 6.69 billion yuan during the period, representing an increase of 15.1 percent year-on-year.

Officials said its tourism sector has become one of the most vigorous, vibrant and competitive industries in the city.

In order to speed up the development of the tourism sector, Shenyang has launched a raft of measures.

In particular, in 2017 Shenyang was given the green light by the country to be a pilot zone for reform and innovation in tourism. It has also explored new measures for the integration of tourism and finance.

The newly established fund will drive the city’s innovation in deepening the integration of tourism and finance, and will give strong impetus to the tourism sector, according to officials.