(Yicai Global) Feb. 3 -- China's exhibition industry may rebound this year on the back of supportive policies amid tourism recovery.

Chengdu, one the biggest exhibition cities in western China, strives to hold 1,000 major events this year with a total exhibition area of nine million square meters, resulting in CNY85 billion (USD12.6 billion) in income, Chengdu Daily reported recently, citing the city's exhibition bureau.

Sichuan province, where Chengdu is located, will embrace new peaks of exhibition activities with fast socioeconomic development after the Covid-19 pandemic, Chen Qiankang, head of a local tour guide association, told Yicai Global.

Other cities are vying for their part of the action as Shanghai has put forward 32 measures to boost market expectations and confidence, including measures to accelerate the restart of various kinds of exhibitions, per a government document released online on Jan. 29. The eastern megacity will offer allowances to economic and technological exhibitions involving overseas participants this year based on venue leasing. Moreover, there will be subsidies for projects with global influence.

Exhibitions could follow in the footsteps of other types of events as consumption recovery began showing regarding cultural shows, entertainment, and tourism over the Chinese New Year holiday in late January.

During the seven-day public holiday, more than 9,400 commercial performances were held nationwide, up over 40 percent from the same festive period in 2022, according to the culture and tourism ministry. Around 3.2 million viewers bought tickets worth CNY380 million (USD56.3 million).

People are increasingly looking for entertainment. During the Spring Festival season, cinemas earned CNY6.8 billion (USD1 billion) in ticket sales, a 12 percent uptick from the 2022 season, per statistics from the China Film Administration. The number of moviegoers was 129 million, up 13 percent.

Three years into the pandemic, people are ready to go out and buy things. Sectors related to consumption logged a 12 percent increase in sales during the holiday from a year ago and the sum was even 12 percent higher than in 2019 before the pandemic.

But recovery is still patchy. The holiday boom suggests that domestic travel has basically rebounded, Chen said. But group tours overseas are expected to resume only next week and the whole tourism market may start improving after the five-day Labor Day holiday in May, the tourism expert added.

Editors: Shi Yi, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi