Shanghai woos foreign tourists with concerts, operas, symphonies featuring global artists

German symphony orchestra Munich Philharmonic, French pianist Alexandre Kantorow, who performed during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and renowned bass-baritone opera singer Bryn Terfel have been enlisted to attract visitors during the month-long China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) from October 18, the organisers said on Monday.

“World-class artists and organisations will gather here to present top-notch concerts, operas and symphonies,” said Li Ming, president of the CSIAF, a unit of Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism, which hosts the festival.

The shows will display Shanghai’s innovative capabilities, increase the city’s global influence worldwide and help the city create a platform for artistic performances, he added.

Some 700 shows to be held during the festival will bring 200,000 visitors, Li said, adding that 10 per cent of those will be from outside the mainland.

Shanghai, the mainland’s most developed metropolis, has been actively developing cultural tourism, banking on concerts and operas to lure visitors from overseas and other parts of the country.

Shanghai mayor Gong Zheng said last year that the city had pinned its hopes on the travel industry to play an important role in stimulating consumption, promoting investment and driving economic growth.

Li said 5,000 artists from 36 countries and regions would be invited to perform in Shanghai during the festival. More than 60 per cent of the shows will be presented by foreign artists or organisations, which will include the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and French violinist Renaud Capucon.

Most of the performances will make their first appearance in Shanghai, according to Li.

The annual Shanghai arts festival, first held in 1999, is one of the three major cultural events organised to hone the metropolis’s image as one of the world’s elite cities.

“The artistic performances will add lustre to Shanghai’s tourism sector,” said Li Wenjie, CEO of Shanghai Yaheng International Travel. “The eased visa rules for foreigners to visit China and the city’s increasing international profile have already prompted some overseas tourists to consider China and Shanghai as their next stop.”

Beijing began easing visa rules for overseas travellers last year after the country’s exit from the zero-Covid policy, granting exemptions for visitors from 12 nations in Europe and some in Southeast Asia.

Shanghai, dubbed China’s economic locomotive, posted a 4.8 per cent increase in economic output in the first half. Earlier this year, the municipal government set a goal of 5 per cent growth for 2023.