China Issues Landmark Policy to Boost Industrial Tourism

Seven Chinese government departments have jointly issued a landmark policy to promote industrial tourism, calling for the development of immersive and smart “industrial tourism+” consumption scenarios that seamlessly connect production and consumption. The notice, signed on May 25 and publicly released on May 29, 2026, represents the highest-level coordinated inter-agency effort on industrial tourism to date.

The policy was jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), the National Cultural Heritage Administration, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, according to CCTV News.

Eight Key Tasks for Industrial Tourism

The notice, formally titled “Notice on Promoting Industrial Culture, Protecting Industrial Heritage, and Developing Industrial Tourism” (办产业发〔2026〕17号), outlines eight key tasks: strengthening industrial heritage resource surveys, improving industrial heritage protection, excavating industrial cultural value, enriching industrial tourism product supply, enhancing service quality, leveraging study tour education functions, increasing publicity, and building safety defenses, as detailed in the official text published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

According to the Xinhua News Agency report on the State Council portal, the policy encourages creative revitalization of industrial sites through design and业态 integration, promotes factory tours in sectors including aerospace, shipbuilding, automotive, robotics, textiles, and food processing, and supports the use of BeiDou, artificial intelligence, ultra-HD video, virtual reality, and autonomous driving technologies to create smart industrial tourism experiences.

Expert Perspectives on the Policy

Zhou Lan (周岚), Director of the Industrial Heritage Research Institute at the Industrial Culture Development Center of MIIT, told CCTV News that the goal is to “create distinctive industrial tourism projects, fully utilizing and linking resources around the project — not just the industrial industry of a single old factory, but even the industrial chain of the industrial cluster.”

Xu Feng (许峰), a professor at Shandong University’s Department of Culture and Tourism Management, described the policy as opening up the entire pathway from industrial culture excavation to heritage utilization and comprehensive tourism development. “The stimulus to consumption is very obvious,” Xu said. “When consumers visit industrial tourism sites and see the production process and stages, they build confidence in domestic products and immediately go to buy, achieving a ‘seamless connection’ between the production end and the consumption end.”

Bridging Production and Consumption

A key objective of the policy is to create diversified consumption scenarios under the “industrial tourism+” framework, including themed commerce, immersive experiences, and specialty markets. The 21st Century Business Herald reported that the notice also emphasizes improving service quality through multi-language guides and tax refunds for foreign tourists, signaling an intent to attract international visitors to industrial sites.

Commentator Zhou Minghua, writing in the People’s Daily, explained the appeal of industrial tourism: “It scratches three itches for tourists. First, curiosity… Second, nostalgia… Third, the sense of contrast — cold steel colliding with hot life, hardcore production lines encountering romantic travel.”

Broader Context and Growth Potential

China’s industrial tourism sector has significant room for expansion. According to Wei Min, a professor at Xiamen University’s School of Management writing in the People’s Forum / National Governance Journal, global industrial tourism accounts for 10-15% of total tourism revenue, while China’s share is less than 5%. Beijing’s industrial tourism revenue was approximately 1.7 billion yuan in 2024, with a target of 3 billion yuan by 2027.

China has identified 264 national-level industrial heritage sites and nearly 500 provincial-level sites, with over 1.7 million industrial artifacts cataloged. The policy builds on local experiments in cities including Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangdong, which have already launched industrial tourism development plans.

Implications for Regional Development

Wei Min noted that the rapid development of industrial tourism, “especially the revitalization of old industrial base sites that carry national industrial memory and transformation pains, has transcended pure economic or cultural issues to become a key field for testing and improving local governance capacity and promoting regional high-quality development.”

Experts point to successful models such as Beijing’s Shougang Park, which transformed from an industrial site into an Olympic heritage and cultural destination, receiving 800,000 visitors during the 2025 National Day holiday. The policy aims to replicate such successes nationwide, turning “industrial锈带” (rust belts) into “living秀带” (show belts).

What to Watch For

Implementation will be key. Analysts caution that challenges remain, including coordination gaps between government enthusiasm and enterprise participation, the risk of shallow “corridor + display board + souvenir shop” tourism experiences, and the need for cross-disciplinary talent combining industrial knowledge, tourism management, and cultural creativity. The policy’s success will depend on how effectively China’s vast industrial resources can be transformed into compelling, safe, and sustainable tourism destinations.