A New Bright Spot of Economic Province： Thermal Power, Vitality and Potential —— A First-line Observation of Sichuan’s Consumption Trend

    Xinhua News Agency, Chengdu, August 5th Topic: Heat, vitality and potential —— A first-line observation of consumption trend in Sichuan

    Xinhua News Agency reporters Hu Xu, Li Qianwei and Bian Siqi

    From the "mystery tour" in Sanxingdui to the "Golden Ball Market" in the Super League; From "young people must drive 318 in this life" to the silver-haired group taking the train to see the world … With the policy overweight, new consumption scenarios, new formats and new models are constantly emerging. In the first half of this year, Sichuan achieved a total retail sales of social consumer goods of 1.42 trillion yuan, up 5.6% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.4 percentage points faster than that in the first quarter.

   Thermal power: the integration of literature and tourism releases abundant kinetic energy

    "Taking advantage of the summer vacation to escape the heat, the children had a good time and want to come again next time!" Ms. Yang, a tourist from Fujian, was very excited when she boarded the Jinding of Emei Mountain. Since the summer tourist season, the beautiful scenery of Mount Emei in Sichuan has made tourists linger. In July this year, the number of tourists received exceeded 760,000, a year-on-year increase of 22.3%.

    Relying on the rich natural landscape and rich cultural heritage, Sichuan strives to cultivate cultural tourism into a pillar industry.

    In rural fields, Maiji Village in Songpan County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture has changed from a butterfly in a deep mountain to an agricultural and cultural tourism complex, and the "Maiji on the Cloud" homestay has driven 30 villagers to find jobs; At the forefront of fashion, the industrial sites remembered in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu collided with avant-garde art, setting off the craze of punching cards for young people; Sanxingdui Museum continues to be popular with precious cultural relics such as bronze sacred trees, and received more than 2.8 million visitors in the first half of this year.

    During the Qingming holiday in 2025, the memory of the eastern suburbs of Chengdu was crowded. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

    "Spicy hot pot, giant panda and Qingcheng Mountain have new surprises every day!" The admiration of Spanish tourist Lu Miguel reflects the global appeal of Sichuan cultural tourism. In the first half of this year, the number of inbound tourists in Chengdu alone reached 984,000, a year-on-year surge of 51.5%. In the first five months of this year, the sales of tax refund for departure from Sichuan and the amount of tax refund handled exceeded 200% year-on-year.

    Behind the fiery consumption scenes and data is inseparable from policy assistance. The Seventh Plenary Session of the Twelfth Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China held in June this year decided to promote the in-depth integration of culture and tourism, enlarge and strengthen cultural tourism, and make comprehensive arrangements for deepening the work of "cultural tourism+all industries".

    In July, Sichuan launched the 2025 Summer Tourism Consumption Season, adding an "accelerant" to the consumption heat: 65.65 million yuan of cultural tourism coupons covered the whole province, more than 150 cultural tourism promotion activities were staged in turn, and more than 50 preferential measures were accurately exerted.

   Vigor: Event flow incites economic growth.

    On July 25th, Sichuan Guangyuan released the "Dashu Road 100 Cross-country Race" in Jianmenguan Scenic Area in cooperation with UTMB Mountain Cross-country Race, and simultaneously launched the "Tour Guangyuan with the Race" activity. Participants and their families and friends can realize "one-day race and multi-day tour".

    "Run a race well, upgrade a city, and take a trip alive". Since the beginning of this year, Sichuan has released the catalogue of "Traveling with the races and promoting consumption in Sichuan" in batches, covering more than 200 events in Sichuan. Event traffic not only brings "retention" of cultural tourism, but also stimulates "increment" of consumption.

    On July 12th, the "Love Chengdu for the World Games" 2025 Chengdu High-tech Zone Dragon Boat Race was held in Jincheng Lake Park. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

    Gymnasium, Wetland Park, Lakeside Stadium … In Chengdu, with the 12th World Games approaching, 27 competition venues (venues) are ready. With the help of activities such as "traveling with the Games" and "World Games projects entering the community", the World Games events are fully integrated with the tourist experience and citizen life.

    "We feel the new tricks of the park city." On July 13th, in Chengdu Luhu Wave Sports Park, Mr. Zhao, who came to Rong by car from Hunan, took his two children to experience roller skating, rock climbing and other World Games projects. Park staff member Wang Yu introduced that the three-day event attracted nearly 100,000 participants.

    Wang Yi, director of Chengdu Sports Bureau, said that Chengdu is expected to host more than 80 international and national high-level events this year, with the total sports consumption expected to reach 80 billion yuan and the total sports industry expected to exceed 150 billion yuan.

    Since the beginning of this year, Sichuan Province has focused on dispatching and monitoring 1,879 sports events, driving 11,614,200 people to participate. According to preliminary calculations, it has driven economic benefits of 6.165 billion yuan. In the first five months of this year, the operating income of the sports industry in Sichuan Province increased by 32.3% year-on-year.

   Potential: innovation and change contain rich possibilities.

    Multi-point series connection, sightseeing on the way, car following people, day tour and night trip … On July 3rd, a tourist train named "Jinxiu Shanhe Minjiang" departed from Chengdu Anjing Station and started a 17-day panoramic tour of Damei Xinjiang, among which silver-haired tourists over 60 accounted for more than 72%.

    In order to meet the travel needs of silver-haired groups, Sichuan has carried out aging transformation on ordinary trains and launched tourist train products adapted to different consumption levels. Since the beginning of this year, 159 silver-haired special trains have been opened, sending a total of 152,000 tourists.

    On May 20th, passengers were preparing to travel by special train at Chengdu Anjing Station. (photo by Cheng Xuan)

    Sichuan is an important destination for health care and tourism, and new scenes of silver-haired economy are constantly emerging. In Taibao Jiayuan Chengdu International Support Community, three elderly companion robots have been on duty for several months. They can not only call for help as soon as the elderly fall, but also chat with each other warmly through AI language.

    "The rapid development of silver-haired economy and artificial intelligence technology has made us see the potential of pension robots." Xu Ailin, director of the Ecological Division of the Institute of Source Code Service Robotics, said that the next step will be to focus on the direction of body intelligence and launch a humanoid "nanny robot".

    Activating the demand potential with innovative supply, Sichuan guides the upgrading of consumption scenarios according to local conditions.

    From Guochao IP to international brands, the Chunxi Road business district in Chengdu, which has been prosperous for a hundred years, launched the first show of its first store in less than two days on average in the first half of this year. From "fusion hot pot" to "seafood Sichuan cooking", Sichuan restaurants in the streets and alleys keep the spicy and delicious soul while constantly bringing forth the new, conquering diners’ taste buds with people-friendly prices and unique flavors.

    Lohas, trendy products, sleepless nights, delicious Sichuan, and enjoyable countryside … With the rich and diversified supply of business travel, the operating income of culture, sports and entertainment industries above designated size in Sichuan increased by 18.7% in the first five months of this year.