From landscape sightseeing to leisure vacations, from traditional culture to digital creativity, from single tourism consumption to cross-industry integration—Sichuan is currently using "culture-tourism plus all industries, all industries plus culture-tourism" as its lever to promote deep integration of culture and tourism and expand new space for industrial development.
On September 28, the 2026 Sichuan Provincial Culture and Tourism Development Conference and the 12th China (Sichuan) International Tourism Investment Conference were held in Chengdu. At the meeting, Sichuan released new deployments for culture-tourism industry development and key investment promotion projects, unleashing investment opportunities for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, driving the culture-tourism industry from resource integration toward industrial coordination, and injecting new momentum into building a world-important tourism destination.
From "Culture-Tourism Integration" to "Culture-Tourism Plus All Industries," Sichuan Opens New Industrial Space
"Stepping into the new journey of the '15th Five-Year Plan,' we are accelerating the building of a world-important tourism destination and implementing actions to build circles and strengthen chains in the culture-tourism industry," said Chen Guanghao, Director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, at the meeting. He stated that Sichuan will deepen "culture-tourism plus all industries, all industries plus culture-tourism," upgrade comprehensive culture-tourism services, improve inbound tourism service guarantees, optimize the business environment, and expand broad space for industrial investment and development.
In recent years, Sichuan has continuously promoted the integration of culture-tourism with commerce, sports, agriculture, health and wellness, and technology. Sports events, performances, and festivals have become new entry points connecting scenic areas, dining, accommodation, and commerce. Resources such as tea gardens, rural areas, and intangible cultural heritage are transformed into tourism products through experiential and scenario-based development, while digital technology provides new ways of expressing traditional cultural resources.
This approach is also reflected in the industrial layout for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Sichuan will accelerate the building of a world-important tourism destination, implement actions to build circles and strengthen chains in the culture-tourism industry, and push forward key work including brand building, diversified supply, and service improvement.
"Splendid Tianfu · Leisurely Sichuan" has become an important brand carrier for this layout. Sichuan possesses natural landscapes such as Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong, and Mount Emei, as well as distinctive cultural resources including Sanxingdui, Jinsha Site, and the Memorial Temple of the Three Su. Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan liquor, Sichuan tea, Sichuan opera, and Shu embroidery further expand the space for culture-tourism consumption.
How to transform resources from "scenic spots" into "products" and from "traffic" into "retention" has become an important direction for culture-tourism integration. Meanwhile, inbound tourism is becoming a new growth space. According to data from the intelligent tourism resource distribution platform Daolv, inbound tourism visits to Sichuan increased by 282% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, with Chengdu ranking fifth among Chinese cities for inbound tourism popularity.
The transportation and service infrastructure supporting inbound tourism growth is also continuously improving. As of August 2026, Chengdu Tianfu International Airport had reached 64 international and regional passenger routes, ranking first in central and western China. From January to August 2026, the airport's total transfer volume reached 6.335 million passenger trips, up 8.9% year-on-year, with the shortest international connection time compressed to within 90 minutes.
334 Quality Projects Unveiled, Culture-Tourism Industry Investment Map Further Expanded
The deepening of culture-tourism integration has also brought new investment space. At the meeting, Sichuan released the "2026 Sichuan Province Culture and Tourism Key Project Investment Guide," introducing 334 quality culture-tourism investment projects with a total investment of 181.206 billion yuan, covering all 21 cities (prefectures) and 11 categories across the province.
In terms of project types, Sichuan's culture-tourism industry layout has become more diversified. In the digital culture sector, 6 projects were introduced, including the Chengdu Wuhou Digital Culture Creativity Center and the Deyang Micro Short Drama Industry Integration project, with a total investment of 3.64 billion yuan. In the cultural creative design sector, 4 projects were introduced, including the Meishan Three Su Cultural Heritage Development and Enhancement project and the Chengdu Qiong Kiln International Ceramic Art Village, with a total investment of 3.94 billion yuan. In the film and television industry, 3 projects were introduced, including the Yibin Lizhuang Cultural Creativity Cluster and the Meishan Huantian Film and Television Culture Industry-Research Base, with a total investment of 1.23 billion yuan.
Traditional tourism formats are also being upgraded. This round introduced 56 leisure and vacation tourism projects with a total investment of 54.402 billion yuan; 8 rural tourism projects with a total investment of 9.36 billion yuan; 6 health tourism projects with a total investment of 9.28 billion yuan; and 5 study tourism projects with a total investment of 1.952 billion yuan.
From the Lugu Lake Resort Area and the Bazhong Tianxingqiao Resort Area, to the Panzhihua Sub-Plateau Outdoor Sports Base and the Neijiang Yangtze River Forest Park Resort Area, and further to the Zigong Dinosaur Culture-Tourism Industrial Park and the Laba River Giant Panda Entrance Community, a batch of projects integrate natural ecology, cultural resources, health and wellness sports, and science education study tours, demonstrating a trend of Sichuan's culture-tourism industry shifting from "scenic area development" to "comprehensive industrial development."
For enterprises, this industrial integration also means new market space. Yuan Songtao, Vice President of InterContinental Hotels Group, stated that the group has opened more than 80 hotels in Sichuan, with the number of hotels in Chengdu ranking second among the group's city layouts nationwide. In July this year, the group signed a cooperation agreement with New Hope Group for the Chengdu Regent Hotel, marking the first location of the luxury brand Regent Hotels & Resorts in Chengdu.
"When foreign enterprises choose a city or a market, they look not at short-term popularity but at long-term certainty," said Yuan Songtao. He stated that for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the group will continue to deploy luxury and lifestyle hotels in Chengdu's core urban areas, while developing vacation products at culture-tourism destinations and incorporating more Bashu cultural elements into design and services.
From Project Attraction to Industrial Co-Building, Sichuan Releases New Cooperation Opportunities
"Project promotion is only the beginning; quality service is the hard-core foundation," said Chen Guanghao. He stated that Sichuan will further strengthen factor guarantees, improve approval service efficiency, promote policy implementation, resolve project difficulties, and let investors invest with confidence, operate with peace of mind, and develop with comfort.
This conference is also an important platform for Sichuan to expand culture-tourism openness and cooperation. The conference invited ambassadors of relevant countries to China, officials from foreign government tourism departments, officials from international tourism organizations, overseas travel operators, as well as representatives from national cultural enterprises, tourism groups, and well-known culture-tourism enterprises, building a cooperation platform for Sichuan with international markets and domestic enterprises.
Huang Shunhua, Ambassador for Greater China of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, stated that Sichuan has continuously promoted culture-tourism integration in recent years, creating cross-sector new tourism products, improving multilingual services and overseas payment facilities, and continuously enhancing its international tourism appeal. In the future, the Pacific Asia Travel Association is willing to further strengthen cooperation in international market development, destination marketing, tourism product development, and talent cultivation, helping Sichuan bring quality culture-tourism resources to the global market.
From building the "Splendid Tianfu · Leisurely Sichuan" brand to the continuous warming of inbound tourism; from the concentrated unveiling of 334 key investment projects to the continuous increase of international hotel groups; from traditional scenic area development to the accelerated layout of new tracks including digital culture, health and wellness vacations, rural tourism, and study tourism—Sichuan is using "culture-tourism plus all industries, all industries plus culture-tourism" as its lever to promote further integration of resources, industry, capital, and market.
As the development blueprint for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period gradually unfolds, culture-tourism for Sichuan is not merely an industry but is also becoming an important link connecting culture, consumption, cities, rural areas, and international markets. How to transform rich landscape and cultural resources into more competitive industrial projects, transform tourist traffic into consumption increment, and transform investment projects into industrial increment is becoming the key to Sichuan opening new space for integrated culture-tourism development.
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