June 30, 2023
By Sharan Kaur Phillora
Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial hub, has unveiled an ambitious plan aimed at generating 50 billion yuan (approximately $6.9 billion) in metaverse-related revenue for its tourism and culture sectors by the end of 2025.
Here’s what we know:
Embracing the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies, Shanghai is actively pursuing what it terms “smart tourism.” The city’s move follows similar initiatives by Beijing, Nanjing, and Zhengzhou, which have all recently revealed their own metaverse plans.
While Beijing unveiled a two-year metaverse plan last August, focusing on the tourism and education sectors, Shanghai’s 5-year plan appears to have scaled down from its initial target of 350 billion yuan ($52 billion) in annual revenues by 2025. According to the plan announced in July 2022, Shanghai has allocated an estimated budget of $1.4 billion for the metaverse industry.
In a more recent development, Zhengzhou City, the capital of Henan province, launched a 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) fund, with an additional 50 billion yuan ($7.08 billion) planned for the future.
This move aims to incentivize metaverse companies within the city. Similarly, in May 2023, Nanjing City launched the “Blockchain Technology and Application Innovation Platform of China” project to advance metaverse studies in the country.
China’s strategy to become a leading player in the metaverse economy appears to be driven primarily by the government, in contrast to other countries where the private sector takes the lead.
Shanghai’s plan envisions the creation of 30 culture and tourism metaverse projects by the end of 2025. The municipal administration of culture and tourism aims to leverage the metaverse for various tourism and cultural products, including virtual performances and digital artwork.
About the author
Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.
