VR dinosaurs to beer shares: China's tourism products enter new stage

At an exhibition booth, visitors used game consoles to control cartoon dinosaurs racing across prehistoric landscapes in an immersive virtual world.

This was one of China Dinosaur Park's programs displayed at the 2026 China Culture & Tourism Industries Expo in Tianjin in early September.

The interactive experience was one example of how tourist attractions in China are turning to technology to reinvent the visitor experience.

The dinosaur park, one of the world's largest, is in Changzhou city, Jiangsu province. In recent years, it has introduced virtual reality and mixed reality headsets, allowing guests to enter digital prehistoric worlds and interact with lifelike dinosaurs.

Traditional culture is also presented in an innovative way to appeal to modern consumers.

At the booth for Dong'e Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture and Tourism Area, shelves were filled with ejiao (donkey-hide gelatin) products, incense, accessories, and souvenirs.

In Dong'e county, Shandong province, attractions have been built around the centuries-old craft of making ejiao, which has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage item. This culture and tourism area now boasts museums, an experience factory, TCM study tours, wellness programs, and heritage workshops.

"Visitors can tour the museums, learn how ejiao is made, and experience blended Chinese incense-making," says Chen Xiaoming, a booth staff member.

In 2025, the Dong'e TCM-themed tourist attractions recorded 1.07 million visits and more than 100 million yuan ($14.9 million) in operating revenue.

According to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Chinese residents made 3.46 billion domestic trips in the first half of 2026, up 5.4 percent year-on-year, while their domestic tourism spending rose 2 percent to 3.21 trillion yuan.

Cross-industry integration is reshaping the tourism sector and blurring boundaries between tourism and other forms of consumption.

Experts at the Tianjin exhibition, which attracted over 2,500 culture and tourism enterprises from 20 countries and regions, agree that demand for high-quality cultural and tourism products, immersive experiences and diversified consumption scenarios continues to rise.

The Chinese government approved a five-year consumption promotion plan in July, calling for the development of new consumption forms, models and scenarios.

At the expo, Beijing-based recreational vehicle firm Xingchengyao displayed Class C motorhomes, pickup campers and camper vans.

"We want the vehicles themselves to become part of the travel experience," says Wang Li, the company's operations director. "We have vehicles that can provide mobile stages for performances in scenic areas, and pickup campers that can be paired with camping or desert tours."

In 2025, Xingchengyao signed agreements with automotive and tourism partners to develop a new RV-tourism ecosystem, with plans to procure 20,000 vehicles over the next three years at a contract value of 2.2 billion yuan.

Another attraction at the expo was a beer exhibition featuring a giant screen displaying a stock market scenario, where beer prices fluctuated in real time based on sales. At the "beer exchange", visitors could buy beer as if trading shares.

On the expo's opening day, a total of 1,200 half-liter cups and 220 1.5-liter bottles were sold.

The combination of beer and tourism has already gained traction in Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong province known for its brewing heritage. A similar beer exchange opened there in May 2025, attracting an average of more than 10,000 visitors daily, with single-day sales this summer vacation exceeding 1,200 liters.

"Competition among tourism products has entered a new stage," says Ge Lei, secretary-general of the China Tourism Association. "It is now centered on content, experience and creativity."