China’s tourism development: Life begins at 40

A new journey for Shanghai

Having been in Shanghai since 2008, Vladimir told the reporter, “I’ve seen the opening up of China, particularly in Shanghai when they prepared for the Expo Shanghai 2010. It was an unbelievable experience. The city was preparing to bring the world to Shanghai. This has been an ongoing process that has been accelerating in the past years... For example, the China International Import Expo will be happening in November. China is looking to again bring the world in this place in Shanghai and to bring the products, the people and the services together.” In his opinion, thanks to reform and opening up, China is becoming international. Another key word is globalization.“The world is taking in China’s participation. The world and China have always had the same wave in a global way.”

“Life begins at 40.” That’s the words Zarina Dolah Judin - Director of Tourism Malaysia, Shanghai - uses to describe the 40 years of opening up of China. Looking back onto the last four decades, there is no doubt that reform and opening up was the only way to create prosperity for the Chinese people. China has been opening up for the last 40 years, which will reach historical heights in 2018, unleashing economic vitality in many sectors and fields. She believes it will become a major force for development in the next 10 to 20 years. These measures will have a dramatic impact on China’s economy and the whole of society. 40 years marks a new beginning for China.

In her novel “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” Chinese writer Wang Anyi describes Shanghai as “The Paris of the East.” The city is never short of visitors and tourism is a pillar industry of Shanghai. The boom of tourism has led to the development of the aviation market. On December 12, 2016, Shanghai, with two international airports (Pudong and Hongqiao), became only the world’s fifth city to handle more than 100 million annual air passengers, following London, New York, Tokyo and Atlanta. In 2017, Shanghai’s tourism revenue hit 448.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%. It received 318 million domestic tourists and 8.73 million foreign tourist arrivals. The expansion of the tourist economy has furthermore brought about the agglomeration of leading tourism companies.