China's cultural and tourism industries achieved vigorous development over the past five years, Sun Yeli, minister of culture and tourism, said at a press conference on Monday.
Sun made the remarks when briefing the press on the achievements in high-quality development of culture and tourism during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).
"China's cultural and tourism industries are booming. Regarding the cultural industry, its system is becoming more complete, its structure and layout are continuously optimized, its scale is steadily expanding, and its economic return is significantly improving. The industry is playing an increasingly evident role in expanding domestic demand, driving consumption, and stabilizing expectations. In 2024, the cultural industry achieved an operating revenue of 19.14 trillion yuan (about 2.68 trillion US dollars), a 37.7 percent increase over 2020; the number of cultural enterprises above designated size reached 78,000, an increase of 13,000 over 2020," Sun said.
The industrial enterprises above the designated size are those with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars).
Regarding tourism, Sun said that the number of Chinese people who went traveling and their total spending hit new highs in the first half of 2025.
"In the first half of 2025, a total of 3.285 billion trips were made by Chinese people, with a total expenditure of 3.15 trillion yuan (about 441.5 billion US dollars), setting a new record," he said.
China's cultural, tourism industries make marked growth over past 5 years: minister
