Southern Metropolis Daily:

The development of the cultural and tourism industry is closely related to people's well-being. What has the MCT done to promote the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry, and what progress has the ministry made in this respect? Thank you.

Rao Quan:

The development of the cultural and tourism industries has drawn wide attention. Let's invite Mr. Miao Muyang from the Industrial Development Department of the MCT to answer this question.

Miao Muyang:

Thank you for your question. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China's cultural and tourism industries have been a new driver and engine for economic development. They have played an essential role in promoting transformation, upgrading, high-quality national economy development, and meeting people's needs for a better life. The cultural and tourism industries have flourished in the past decade. 

First, the industries have grown with a larger number of market entities. As Mr. Rao introduced just now, the value added by China's cultural and related industries and by the tourism and associated industries in 2019 were 4,436.3 billion yuan and 4,498.9 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 4.5% and 4.56% of GDP, respectively. The number of China's cultural firms above the designated size grew from 36,000 to 65,000 in the past decade. Their total annual revenue more than doubled from 5.6 trillion yuan to 11.9 trillion yuan. By the end of 2021, China had 42,000 travel agencies, 14,000 A-level scenic spots, and 8,771 star-rated hotels. The cultural and tourism industries have been strong drivers of economic development.

Second, the supply of products has diversified as industrial integration has stimulated consumption. Digital technologies, including 5G, big data, AR/VR, artificial intelligence, and ultra-high definition, have seen more comprehensive applications in the cultural and tourism industries. New forms such as online broadcasting, digital art, and immersive experiences have developed at a fast pace. Several digital artworks with distinctive Chinese features, such as "Big Fish and Begonia" and "Dancing into Spring," have sprouted up. Strong impetus has been injected into the integrated development of the cultural and tourism industries, related products and markets, resulting in booming development of tourism performance, red tourism, village tourism, and cultural heritage tourism. A total of 15 cities were listed as national model cities for cultural and tourism consumption, 115 cities as national pilot cities for culture and tourism consumption, and 243 zones as national night culture and tourism consumption clusters. A promising future has been entailed by the integration of cultural and tourism industries.

Third, industrial investment and financing systems have been improved with fruitful results in foreign trade. As the industry has seen a great variety of investors, the total investment has expanded with more robust support from policy-related and developmental financial instruments. Policy tools such as cooperation between government and social capital and special local government bonds have been popularized and effectively applied in the cultural and tourism sectors. The import and export of cultural products has maintained a surplus for many years, and the inbound and outbound tourism has seen great development. China's volume in foreign cultural trade exceeded $200 billion for the first time of then 2021. Many excellent cultural and tourism firms have gone global as platforms such as cultural and tourism industrial expos are playing a more prominent role and the construction of national bases for international cultural trade is being advanced.

Fourth, more policies for easing the difficulties of businesses have been carried out to shield the industries from the impact of the pandemic. The MCT and relevant departments released Several Policies on Promoting the Recovery and Development of Service Industries in Difficulty and other policies to provide financial support in this regard and promoted the detailed implementation of policies on cutting taxes and fees and stabilizing employment. By doing so, the cultural and tourism firms' sense of gain has been more substantial. The cultural and tourism markets have recovered safely as opening policies of cultural and tourism sites were adjusted according to local conditions in epidemic prevention and control. the application range of the circuit-breaker mechanism for cross-provincial trips has been adjusted precisely to county level. Since the second half of 2022, the cultural and tourism markets have gained robust momentum to recover, demonstrating firms' resilience and the great efforts made by relevant personnel.

That's all for my answer. Thank you.