The integration of performances and tourism, an innovative model featuring immersive and interactive experiences, is being hailed as a promising field for 2025 in the tourism industry in China.

Recently, the 500th performance of an immersive maritime epic musical called "Seek the Dream of the Ocean" was completed in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. The musical, produced by the Qingdao Tourism Group, offers a multi-sensory experience using cutting-edge technology. The show has made it to a premium performance lineup announced by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Shandong Province, becoming a bright cultural card of the city.

Actresses perform in the stage play "The Great Qin," which is based on the epic history of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)

Based on the show, Qingdao has introduced a popular tourist route themed on educational tours combining visits to the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Museum, the Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Museum, and the Qingdao International Conference Center.

The fusion of performance and tourism has brought new development opportunities to various regions. Quanzhou city in southeast China's Fujian Province hosted 50 large-scale concerts in 2023-2024, attracting over 800,000 visits and generating more than 10 billion yuan (about $1.36 billion) in consumption related to catering, accommodation, tourism and other sectors. In several concerts, audiences from outside the city accounted for more than 50 percent of the total.

Last year, southwest China's Yunnan Province held over 50 premium tourism performances, while Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, staged more than 20,000 performances, drawing 10 million visits.

These success stories prove that the integration of performances and tourism drives revenue not just from ticket sales but also boosts spending in sectors including catering, transportation, accommodation, and sightseeing.

At the end of 2024, Chengdu launched measures to promote the high-quality development of performances, offering free access to several museums to attendees of large-scale commercial performances for a certain period of time. Chaoyang district in Beijing plans to recognize at least 30 new performance venues in 2025.

Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has made performances a must-do for tourists. In 2024, its 21 premium shows were staged nearly 36,000 times, attracting over 16 million tourist visits. The city also hosted 26 large-scale concerts and musical festivals.

The secret sauce for Xi'an's performance projects lies in their contemporary interpretation of traditional culture, as exemplified by shows like "The Great Qin," a stage play based on the epic history of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), which brings historical relics to life on stage.