SHANGHAI, April 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On April 3rd, Tourism Plus Shanghai 2026 came to a successful close. With 5 collective exhibitions, a total exhibition area of 700,000 square meters, and over 6,000 exhibitors, the expo welcomed nearly 450,000 visitors from 189 countries and regions over a 6-day exhibition period, among which the number of overseas visitors increased by nearly 50% compared with last year! The display of hundreds of thousands of new products, various new cultural tourism consumption scenarios and solutions presented the deep integration of “tourism + various industries” from multiple perspectives, showcasing the vigorous vitality of high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry.
From March 29 to April 3, Tourism Plus Shanghai 2026 was held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), and the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. The five collective exhibitions include: Thematic Pavilion of Tourism Plus Shanghai, China (Shanghai) International Boat Show & The Lifestyle Show Shanghai, Shanghai Modern Concept World Expo, HOTELEX Shanghai – International Hospitality Equipment & Foodservice Expo, and Hotel & Shop Plus – Shanghai International Hotel, Shop, Office and Public Space Expo, covering a total of 16 industrial categories and 58 exhibition sections.
The matchmaking meetings in 19 vertical fields held concurrently with the expo — totaling 31 sessions — were included in the 2026 Shanghai Culture & Tourism Investment Promotion Week. The meetings invited over 800 professional buyers from both domestic and international markets and facilitated interaction between buyers from different exhibitions. The arrival of numerous buyers and investors from home and abroad helped position Shanghai as a gateway for tourism investment in Asia.
The platform effect of this expo was particularly significant in creating new cultural tourism consumption scenarios and integrating culture and tourism with daily lifestyles. The creation of 35 lifestyle festivals and special exhibitions, along with numerous new scenario solutions brought by participating merchants, provided trend references and supply chain vendors for tourism destinations seeking to create host-guest shared tourism lifestyles. The lifestyle festivals and special exhibitions covered topics such as intangible cultural heritage in ancient towns, self-drive travel destinations, internet-famous scene creation, water sports and lure fishing, coffee, CHA tea drinks, bread, candy and chocolate, bars and alcoholic drinks, small appliances, Fair Field, architecture, design and oriental aesthetics hotels, pet-friendly concepts, hotel brand investment and franchising, homestay intangible cultural heritage, hotel uniforms, floral art, and fragrances.
22 international and domestic competitions covered areas including food and beverage production skills such as coffee, trendy drinks, cooking, baking, ice cream, chocolate, and bartending; hotel service skills such as table setting, housekeeping, and cleaning; as well as hotel uniform competitions and lure fishing tournaments. Through these competitions, various talents were supplied to the industry, while also leading the trend of professional skills development.
In more than 190 professional forums held concurrently with the expo, over 1,000 speakers from various industries shared insights with audiences on trends and solutions in fields including tourism investment development, road trip ecology, metaverse and cultural tourism industry integration, cultural-business-tourism integration, boat industry development, future marine lifestyles, fishing gear brands and industrial cluster development, new retail development, functional health food and beverages, food design, Fair Field, catering industry development, chain franchising, food delivery industry development, hotel digital intelligence, cooking robot ecology, local cuisine development, coffee and tea beverage development, Chinese cuisine development and going global, local cuisine development, catering equipment and supply chains, central kitchen construction, cultural-business-tourism investment, hotel investment, hotel brand innovation, regional hotel development, hotel procurement and supply chains, AI and the future of hotels, urban planning, landscape design, architectural design, hotel and commercial space design, commercial and office space design, commercial district renewal, lighting design, cultural tourism landscape light and shadow design, wellness design, sleep and great health, healing design, pet-friendly spaces, hotel and tourism innovation, retail digitalization, stone care, cleaning under ESG drivers, hotel and property technology innovation, driverless cleaning robots, aerial cleaning, cleaning equipment, laundry industry development, and restroom sanitation. The expo also held over 100 roadshows, new product launches, product promotions, catwalks, award ceremonies, dinners, and other events.
Moreover, across all tourism elements — “food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment” — exhibitors brought the latest products and system solutions based on AI, large language models, robots, intelligent control, green energy, and green materials. Leading exhibitors also presented comprehensive solutions for smart application scenarios, injecting technological momentum into industrial upgrading.
The expo also achieved linkage with Shanghai’s urban events: outdoor sports lifestyle festivals were linked with “Dynamic Pudong,” the special exhibition on commercial aesthetics extended to the surrounding World Expo Tian Di area, and the food and beverage exhibition was linked with the “2026 Shanghai Global Food Festival.” The comprehensive linkage of culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions significantly enhanced the attention and participation of professional visitors and citizens/tourists in Shanghai’s cultural tourism consumption scenarios, and notably boosted consumption in surrounding areas such as hotel accommodation, dining, and shopping during the exhibition period.
“United Sectors, Boundless Journeys” — Tourism Plus Shanghai 2026 saw a significant increase in both the number of source countries/regions and the number of overseas buyers, with increases of 27.7% and nearly 50%, respectively. This demonstrates the growing global influence of Tourism Plus Shanghai, as well as the promising prospects for the supply chain of China’s tourism industry to go global. Shanghai is also becoming a cradle for global tourism industry chain innovation and the construction of new tourism scenarios!
Let us meet again from March 28 to April 2, 2027, at Tourism Plus Shanghai, organized by Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd.!
