ICIF concludes, records over 2 million visits

The 18th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) wrapped up yesterday, recording a total of more than 2 million visits to its main venue, Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center in Bao’an District, and 65 subvenues across the city during the past six days.

A total of 2,532 governmental delegations, cultural institutions and businesses attended the fair as exhibitors on site, while 800 institutes and enterprises set up online booths during the fair. The total number of enterprises exhibiting at the fair both online and offline reached 3,402, 66 more than the previous fair.

According to statistics released by the organizer, the 18th ICIF, covering a total exhibition area of 120,000 square meters, gathered over 100,000 exhibits from cultural and creative industries at home and abroad, and more than 4,000 cultural investment and financing projects were displayed and traded at the fair.

Ten key cultural projects involving a total investment of 2.85 billion yuan (US$410 million) were signed at the Cultural Industry Investment Promotion Conference, a highlight event of the ICIF. They were selected among 4,000 excellent cultural projects across the country.

Overseas visitors pose for a photo at a 3-D image displayed at the ICIF.

To increase the fair’s international influence, the organizer set up the International Exhibition Hall at this year’s Cloud ICIF. A total of 300 overseas cultural institutions and businesses from 30 countries and regions were invited to the online fair.

At the main venue, the organizer also set up an experience area for the International Exhibition Hall, with 13 enterprises from France, Germany and the U.S. exhibiting their products on site. The Consulate General of Uganda in Guangzhou and The Consulate General of Iran in Guangzhou organized enterprises to exhibit their products at the fair.

Amb Judyth Nsababera, Uganda’s consul general in Guangzhou, hoped that through the ICIF, Uganda can show African culture, products and projects, and cooperation in the cultural industries in China and Uganda can be raised to a higher level.

According to the organizer, a total of 10,931 overseas buyers from 108 countries and regions including France, Germany and Pakistan had registered to visit or purchase at the fair online.

Since the fair’s inception in Shenzhen in 2004, it has seen a continuous increase in exhibition scale, audience number and level of internationalization.

As a State-level, international and comprehensive fair for cultural industries, the ICIF has promoted the development of the cultural industries across the country as well as Shenzhen. The added value of Shenzhen’s cultural industries had exceeded 250 billion yuan as of December last year, accounting for over 8% of the city’s GDP, as per official data.