Nanning, capital city of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, is striving to build an international consumption center oriented to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), local media outlets reported on March 11.

Positioned as a regional international metropolis open to ASEAN cooperation, the city has seen a surge in its culture and tourism market recently, as it aims to develop into a high-quality national culture and tourism consumption demonstration city.

Nanning is now home to 11 enterprises that play leading roles in Guangxi's culture industry, six enterprises that do so in the region's tourism service industry, and 132 culture industry demonstration bases.

The city also has 96 national tourist attractions above grade 3A, 10 regional tourism demonstration areas, and 36 well-rated hotels. Additionally, it has one national leisure block, as well as one tourism standardization demonstration area.

The annual added value of Nanning's culture industry accounts for about one-third of the region. In 2022, Nanning was honored as a model city for tourism, as its tourist throughput and income ranked first in Guangxi.

Being the host city of the 2023 Guangxi Culture and Tourism Development Conference, Nanning plans to take advantage of this opportunity by launching a number of major culture and tourism projects featuring city characteristics. Nanning has 165 cultural and tourism projects lined up, based on a total investment of 254 billion yuan ($37 billion).