Go in both directions! Yantian economic and trade exchange group goes to Europe to achieve fruitful results again
From December 2 nd to 9 th, Su Feng, deputy head of Yantian District, led a Yantian economic and trade exchange delegation (hereinafter referred to as the "exchange delegation") to Britain and Italy to carry out investment promotion, economic and trade exchanges and project docking, jointly explore new opportunities for development, and reach cooperation intentions with many institutions and platforms in the fields of digital creativity, top hotels, theme parks and yacht industry.
First stop
Britain
After the delegation arrived in the UK, they intensively visited London Canary Wharf Group, Frameless Creative Digital Art Center, Intercontinental Group, Farzade Consulting Co., Ltd., British Maritime Federation, Merlin Entertainment Group and other places, and successfully held cooperation and exchange meetings to comprehensively publicize the high-quality business environment, investment promotion policies and development achievements of cultural tourism industry in Shenzhen and Yantian District, and comprehensively display the development potential and advantages of regional key industries.
During the exchange and cooperation in the UK, the delegation visited London Canary Wharf Group at the first stop. Canary Wharf was once a famous wharf in London. It stopped operation in 1980. After transformation, it has become a famous business center in Europe and even the world, and is the global or European headquarters of more than 100 large banks, professional service companies and media organizations. The delegation learned more about the experience of Canary Wharf Group in wharf reconstruction planning and investment promotion, provided reference for Yantian Port wharf regional reconstruction project, and established good communication channels with it, so as to gain more cooperation opportunities in commercial trade and port tourism.
On December 3rd, the delegation visited the ——Frameless Creative Digital Art Center, the largest permanent digital art gallery in Britain. The center was converted from an abandoned cinema, and four unique galleries were filled with self-created artworks and entertainment products. With more than 479 million pixels and 1 million lumens of optical fiber, the traditional artistic experience was raised to a new height. During this period, the delegation had a discussion with Mr. Richard Relton, CEO of Frameless Creative Digital Art Center. Mr. Richard Relton expressed the hope to build the first frameless art experience space in China in Yantian, and discussed with the delegation the possibility of cooperation in digital products, facilities and equipment, training and operation, and digital creativity.
As the world’s largest and most widely distributed professional hotel management group, Intercontinental Group has 19 internationally renowned brands including Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Express, 6,261 hotels and over 100 million members, and has more than 60 years of international hotel management experience. During the visit, Mr.Matt Walton, head of the Western European market of Intercontinental Group, introduced the overall situation of the group to the delegation, focusing on the development and new brands in the past 12 years. The delegation introduced the measures and spatial planning of "building a desirable and world-famous top hotel cluster" in Yantian, and the two sides initially screened out eight brands that matched Yantian’s resource endowment, such as SIX SENSES, REGENT, KIMPTON, Huayi and VOCO. At the same time, the delegation communicated with the manager of VOCO Hotel in Milan to fully understand the hotel’s upgrading, positioning, development and operation, and invited Intercontinental Group to make an on-the-spot investigation in Yantian.
Farazard Consulting Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Farazard Investment Group, which focuses on providing professional and structured guidance for multi-purpose real estate investment institutions, focusing on hotels, consulting, in-depth market analysis and feasibility reports. Its business covers five continents, with operations in Britain, Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Australia and the United States. During the visit, the delegation held talks with Mr. Korosh Farazad, CEO of Farazad Consulting Co., Ltd. to introduce Yantian’s industrial development and location advantages, understand its international experience in global hotel development and management consulting, explore the possibility of consulting and investment cooperation between the two sides in luxury hotels, lifestyle hotels and other hotel projects, and promote more hotel brands to enter Yantian.
Next, the delegation visited the British Maritime Union. Located in Southampton, the Federation has held 55 yacht shows, each attracting 100,000 visitors and generating 24 million pounds (220 million RMB). Since 2015, it has been in charge of consulting services for the Abu Dhabi Yacht Show, which has advantages in race planning, business planning and consulting services. The British Maritime Federation expressed great interest in developing the yacht industry in Yantian. During the visit, the delegation had a discussion with Lesley Robinson, CEO of the British Maritime Federation, and Mark Ring, director of the exhibition, to introduce the situation of Yantian sea area, dock construction planning, the development of yacht clubs and the holding of water sports events. At the same time, they learned more about the role played by the British Maritime Federation in yacht exhibitions, and learned from its advanced practices in promoting the operation and management of yacht exhibitions and water sports as an NGO. The two sides conducted in-depth exchanges and reached a consensus on the cooperation of international yacht exhibitions and the joint holding of water events in the large and small Meisha waters.
In addition, the delegation also visited Merlin Entertainments Group. The Group is a well-known high-quality home entertainment attraction operating company in the UK and the second largest tourist attraction operating company in the world. There are 147 different amusement parks in the world, 40 of which are in China, and its subsidiaries include Lego Theme Park, Madame Windsor Wax Museum, Aquarium and other projects. During the discussion with Mr. COO John Jacobson, Lego Resort of Merlin Entertainment Group, the delegation deeply understood the global strategic layout of Merlin Entertainment Group and its IP projects for cultural tourism, as well as its current development and future planning in China. At the same time, they promoted Yantian’s policy of enriching mountain and sea resources and cultural tourism industry, actively explored the cooperation mode between the two sides in cultural tourism projects, and invited Merlin Entertainment Group to pay a return visit and conduct on-the-spot investigation in Yantian, further promoting the in-depth cooperation between Merlin Entertainment Group and cultural tourism enterprises such as OCT and xiaomeisha in the east of Yantian.
On the afternoon of December 4th, the delegation successfully held the "China (Shenzhen Yantian)-UK (London) Economic, Trade and Cultural Tourism Cooperation Exchange Conference" in London. This cooperation and exchange meeting was held in the conference room of the House of Lords in the UK. Senator Mark Logan attended the meeting and delivered a speech to witness the signing of the contract.
At the meeting, the delegation comprehensively introduced the excellent business environment and unique modern industrial system in Yantian District, explained in detail the implementation plan of building a world-class coastal tourist destination in Yantian District and the construction plan of xiaomeisha, and signed a memorandum of cooperation with representatives of Framelless Frameless Creative Digital Art Center, Farzade Consulting and Investment Company, British Maritime Federation and British Return International Business Co., Ltd. on the spot to promote the gathering of cultural and tourism industry resources and help Yantian build a world-class coastal tourist destination.
The second stop
Italy
On December 5th, the delegation visited Procuratie Vecchie (the old administrative building), Valenza town and its jewelry innovation center, Italian yacht club, and had a discussion with the Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Italian China Council Foundation.
Procuratie Vecchie (Old Administration Building) is an important exhibition venue for each Venice Biennale. As a successful case of transforming a classic building into a business, cultural tourism, art and office center, it can provide experience for the construction of Yantian city, the biennial of the two cities and the creation of characteristic art landmarks.
Valenza is the most important jewelry and gold craft center in Italy and Europe. During the visit, the delegation learned about the development of Valenza town as the birthplace of jewelry craft, visited the workshop of jewelry brand IL DIAMANTE, and introduced the development of Yantian jewelry culture and fashion industry and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area market. At the symposium, the two sides discussed brand output and talent training, and provided many inspirations for Yantian to develop jewelry industry tourism, jewelry exhibition and high-end customization, push the gold jewelry industry to the high end of the value chain, build the gold jewelry headquarters corridor and the global brand of "Yantian Jewelry Design" and build a fashionable area.
Italy Yacht Club is one of the oldest sailing clubs in the Mediterranean. It holds Venice Yacht Show and sailing activities in the city every year, which fully displays Venice’s urban civilization and ancient buildings. It has a long history and is full of honor. Through exchanges between the two sides, a yacht exhibition and sailing platform will be built to accumulate resources for Yantian to hold related large-scale international exhibitions and events.
The Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce is the only national joint chamber of commerce between Italy and China approved by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and affiliated to the Italian Chamber of Commerce. It has been committed to promoting the development of economic relations between Italy and China. The exchange delegation held discussions with relevant member units in the fields of low-altitude economy, water sports and commerce and trade, and gained an in-depth understanding of the cooperation between member units in China’s economy, trade and tourism, especially the cooperation with and investment in Shenzhen. The delegation introduced Yantian’s advantageous industries and industrial policies to the participating enterprises, welcomed overseas enterprises to invest and develop Yantian, and hoped that the Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce would actively dock resources for Yantian and help build the Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Consumer Cooperation Zone in Sha Tau Kok. At the meeting, the delegation reached a strategic cooperation consensus with the Italian-Chinese Council Foundation and signed a memorandum of cooperation.
On the afternoon of December 7th, the delegation successfully held the "China (Shenzhen Yantian)-Italy (Milan) Cooperation and Exchange Meeting on Economy, Trade and Cultural Tourism". During the symposium, the delegation held discussions and exchanges with the heads of the Water Sports Federation, yacht companies Delta Interior and Delta Automotive on the promotion of business environment and the development plan of cultural tourism industry in Yantian District, creating opportunities for exchanges and cooperation between Yantian and Italian economic and trade enterprises, and promoting in-depth cooperation between the two companies in the fields of cultural tourism innovation, digital fashion and economic and trade cooperation.
Attracting investment and attracting talents is the most important support to promote high-quality development and realize the transformation of old and new kinetic energy. The exchange delegation visited three cities in two countries and conveyed confidence and sincerity in high-quality development. Many overseas leading enterprises in cultural tourism expressed strong interest and intention in investing in Yantian District.
In the next step, Yantian District will promptly follow up the achievements of foreign investment, build a matching carrier for attracting resources based on the leading enterprises’ driving effect, strongly support the landing of high-quality project resources, actively create a first-class business environment, fully support the landing of high-quality project resources, and join hands with all salt investors to seek common development and win-win cooperation in the future.