SHANGHAI, April 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On April 3, Tourism Plus Shanghai 2026 was successfully concluded. With 5 group exhibitions, a total exhibition area of 700,000 square meters and more than 6,000 exhibitors, the exhibition welcomed nearly 450,000 visitors from 189 countries and regions over a 6-day exhibition period, among which the number of foreign visitors increased by nearly 50% compared with last year! The display of hundreds of thousands of new products, various new consumption scenarios and solutions of cultural tourism presented the deep integration of “tourism + various industries” from multiple perspectives, highlighting the vigorous vitality of the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry.
From March 29 to April 3, Tourism Plus Shanghai 2026 was held at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) and Shanghai New International Expo Center. The five group exhibitions include: Shanghai Tourism Plus Theme Pavilion, China (Shanghai) International Boat Show and Shanghai Lifestyle Show, Shanghai World Modern Concept Expo, HOTELEX Shanghai – International Hospitality Facilities and Catering Exhibition, and Hotel & Shop Plus – Shanghai International Exhibition for Hotels, Shops, Offices and Public Spaces, covering a total of 16 industry categories and 58 exhibition sections.
THE matchmaking meetings across 19 verticals held alongside the exhibition – totaling 31 sessions – were included in the Shanghai Culture and Tourism Investment Promotion Week 2026. The meetings invited more than 800 professional buyers from domestic and international markets and facilitated interaction between buyers from different exhibitions. The arrival of numerous domestic and foreign buyers and investors has helped position Shanghai as a gateway for tourism investment in Asia.
The platform effect of this exhibition was particularly important in creating new consumption scenarios of cultural tourism and integrating culture and tourism into daily lifestyles. The creation of 35 lifestyle festivals and special exhibitionsas well as many new scenario solutions proposed by participating merchants, provided trend references and supply chain providers for tourism destinations seeking to create shared host-guest tourism lifestyles. The lifestyle festivals and special exhibitions covered topics such as intangible cultural heritage of ancient cities, self-driving travel destinations, creation of Internet famous scenes, water sports and lure fishing, coffee, CHA tea drinks, bread, candy and chocolate, bars and alcoholic drinks, small household appliances, Fair Field, architecture, design and hotels with oriental aesthetics, pet-friendly concepts, investment and franchising of hotel brands, intangible cultural heritage of homestays, hotel uniforms, floral arranging and perfumes.
22 international and national competitions areas covered 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, diverse talents have been made available to the industry, while paving the way for the development of professional skills.
In more than 190 professional forums organized alongside the exhibition, more than 1,000 speakers from various industries shared their views with the audience on trends and solutions in areas such as tourism investment development, road trip ecology, metaverse and cultural tourism industry integration, cultural business tourism integration, nautical industry development, future marine lifestyles, fishing equipment brands and industrial cluster development, new fishing business development retail, functional health food and drinks, food design, Fair Field, catering industry development, chain franchise, food delivery industry development, digital intelligence of hotels, ecology of kitchen robots, local cuisine development, coffee and tea beverage development, Chinese cuisine development and globalization, local cuisine development, catering equipment and supply chains, central kitchen construction, cultural, business and tourism investment, investment hotelier, hotel brand innovation, regional hotel development, hotel sourcing and supply chains, AI and the future of hotels, urban planning, landscaping, architectural design, hotel and commercial space design, retail and office space design, commercial district renewal, lighting design, cultural tourism landscape light and shadow design, wellness design, sleep and good health, healing design, pet friendly spaces, hotel innovation and tourism, retail digitalization, stone care, ESG cleaning, hotel and real estate technology innovation, driverless cleaning robots, aerial cleaning, cleaning equipment, laundry industry development and toilet sanitation. The exhibition has also organized more than 100 roadshows, new product launches, product promotions, fashion shows, award ceremonies, dinners and other events.
Additionally, in all elements of tourism – “food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment” – exhibitors showcased 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 intelligent application scenarios, injecting technological momentum into industrial upgrading.
The exhibition also established a link with urban events in Shanghai: outdoor sports festivals were linked with “Dynamic Pudong”, the special commercial aesthetics exhibition extended to the surrounding area of the Tian Di World Expo, and the food and beverage exhibition was linked with “2026 Shanghai Global Food Festival”. The comprehensive connection between culture, tourism, commerce, sports and exhibitions has greatly increased the attention and participation of professional visitors and citizens/tourists in the consumption scenarios of Shanghai’s cultural tourism, and greatly stimulated consumption in surrounding areas such as hotel accommodation, restaurants and shops during the exhibition period.
“Sectors united, travel without limits” — Tourism Plus Shanghai 2026 saw a significant increase in both the number of countries/regions of origin and the number of foreign buyers, with increases of 27.7% and almost 50%.respectively. This demonstrates the growing global influence of Tourism Plus Shanghai, as well as the promising prospects for supply chain globalization of China’s tourism industry. Shanghai is also becoming a cradle of innovation in the global tourism chain and the construction of new tourism scenarios!
Let’s meet from March 28 to April 2, 2027, at Tourism Plus Shanghai, organized by Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd. !
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SOURCE Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd.
