China's Jiangsu issues guideline to bolster nighttime economy

NANJING -- East China's Jiangsu province has announced a new guideline to build "nighttime commercial blocks" in the culture and tourism sectors, according to the provincial department of culture and tourism.

The commercial blocks refer to industrial clusters that combine distinctive local culture and nighttime sightseeing tours. They are expected to boost culture and tourism consumption with abundant products, good infrastructure and influential brands.

The guideline involves five aspects for building the blocks -- exploring the unique culture and tourism resources, creating appropriate layouts, innovating multiple nighttime activities and products, and improving support facilities and management services.

Since this year, Jiangsu has been making efforts to bolster its nighttime economy amid effective containment of the epidemic. It plans to build over 30 province-level nighttime commercial blocks and over 10 state-level nighttime commercial blocks by 2022.

China's nighttime cultural and tourism consumption witnessed robust growth in 2019, with the overall tourism spending at night accounting for 28.6 percent of the total spending, according to a report by China UnionPay Merchant Services Co Ltd.