The SCO Summit has propelled Qingdao onto the world stage. Where does the opportunity lie in the nighttime economy?

Qingdao carries many labels: a nationally important coastal central city, one of the happiest cities, a livable city, a renowned coastal tourist destination, and a famous historical and cultural city, among others. Yet, the phrase “red tiles and green trees, blue sea and sky” has always been synonymous with the city’s beauty.

With the successful hosting of the 2018 SCO Summit in Qingdao, the world was given a chance to rediscover the city. For the first time, heads of state from over ten countries gathered in Qingdao. Hosting world-class conferences—like the Hangzhou G20 and Xiamen BRICS Summit—has already demonstrated how such events can transform a city. For Qingdao in 2018 and beyond, the post-summit era will bring equally significant historical opportunities, providing crucial development prospects across various sectors.

The hosting of the SCO Summit in Qingdao has advanced the city’s global recognition by 20 years, refreshing its urban image and significantly improving its infrastructure. These developments have created favorable conditions for Qingdao to seize the momentum to elevate its tourism industry, drive greater economic benefits, and more.

If the revitalized urban infrastructure and modern cityscape during the summit served as the first calling card through which the world viewed Qingdao, then tourism—supporting urban economic growth and leveraging the city’s cultural and tourism resources—is undoubtedly the sector that will first benefit from the “summit dividend.”

So, how can Qingdao achieve a new level of integration between culture and tourism in the post-summit era? Clearly, judging by the massive daily crowds gathering at May Fourth Square just to watch the Fushan Bay light show since the summit, the nighttime economy has become a critical issue that Qingdao must prioritize to break through in the integrated development of culture and tourism.

How can we shape a new framework for the urban nighttime economy?

Looking back at the past tourism market, many cities focused solely on daytime activities—relying on their unique cultural and tourism resources, whether scenic spots or amusement offerings—while neglecting the potential of nighttime consumer demand. The transformative changes of China’s 40 years of reform and opening up have allowed many sectors, including tourism, to align with global standards.

As night falls and city lights begin to glow, the nighttime economy—evolving from global best practices—is becoming a new driving force for the integrated development of culture and tourism in China’s leading tourist cities.

This is directly reflected in the growing number of cities that now study the development of their nighttime economies as a new engine to boost tourism and advance integrated cultural and tourism growth. Nighttime economy refers to cultural and tourism activities between 6 PM and 6 AM, capturing the golden three-hour nighttime window. It encompasses a model that includes shopping, dining, tourism, entertainment, film, and other business formats, ultimately forming a 12-hour nighttime consumption cycle driven by hotel stays. Public survey data shows that nighttime tourists spend roughly three times more than daytime visitors.

This proves that the nighttime economy not only enhances the efficiency and value of urban and scenic tourism resources and extends visitor duration but also maximizes the utilization of tourist time and stimulates spending desire within scenic areas.

When a city transitions from a busy “Side A” to a prolonged “Side B,” the resulting economic landscape becomes the best testament to the city’s nighttime economy framework.

So, what specific steps can be taken? Globally, the types of nighttime economy projects mainly include: commercial nightlife, park nightlife, performance-based nightlife, and light shows. Advanced cities like London, Singapore, and Dubai have already established nighttime economy layouts tailored to their unique characteristics.

For example, London’s commercial nightlife consists of bars, clubs, restaurants, and concert halls, and has become the UK’s fifth-largest industry. According to a report from the London Economic and Commercial Research Centre, London’s “nighttime economy” is expected to reach £30 billion by 2030. Singapore is actively exploring park nightlife, using lighting technology to offer immersive, interactive nighttime experiences such as situational simulations, amusement rides, sightseeing, and 4D experiences. Dubai focuses on performance-based nightlife, creating the Dubai Global Village—an open-air theme park combining family shopping, entertainment, tourism, and vacation—that provides top-tier amusement experiences and emphasizes cultural engagement.

In China, first-tier cities have leveraged their strong resource aggregation capabilities to develop sizable nighttime economies. Beijing’s Wangfujing night market sees peak crowds of one million, Shanghai’s nighttime commercial sales account for 50% of daytime figures, Chongqing—with its thriving food scene—generates 70% of its business revenue at night, and Guangzhou’s service sector output is half derived from its nighttime economy.

These examples illustrate the tremendous potential of the nighttime economy to further develop both cities and scenic areas. Returning to Qingdao, the development of urban nighttime tourism projects must draw on the advanced experiences of leading cities while integrating the city’s rich marine culture. By focusing on the modern traveler’s demand for high-quality, distinctive consumption and leveraging technological innovation, Qingdao can develop a variety of nighttime tourism projects centered around cultural and tourism attractions.

Qingdao’s foundation in competing in the nighttime economy

Qingdao is a nationally recognized historical and cultural city, a key site for historical preservation, and one of China’s first outstanding tourist cities. It has 34 national-level key cultural relics protection units, national scenic areas like Laoshan and Qingdao Coastal Scenic Area, and over 100 A-level tourist attractions. Among Shandong Province’s nearly 300 outstanding historical buildings, Qingdao accounts for nearly half (131), and its historic districts include 85 key former residences of notable figures. Its cultural and tourism resources are robust.

After the successful hosting of the SCO Summit, Qingdao’s modernized image and strong international vibe earned global acclaim, especially in terms of infrastructure, cultural tourism, and ecological environment. Remember last summer in Qingdao, when the summit made day and night indistinguishable? Districts like Shinan, Laoshan, and West Coast, with their stunning sea-and-sky views, wowed the world with colorful light shows, becoming a new urban calling card. Light shows are also a staple among leading global nighttime economy offerings.

During that period, foot traffic in Qingdao’s Fushan Bay surged dramatically. Just during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday after the summit, the area welcomed 4.0944 million visitors, a 35.8% year-on-year increase, generating total tourism consumption of 9.263 billion yuan, up 22.71%. To watch the “light show,” crowds of over 80,000 locals and tourists gathered around Fushan Bay. Occupancy rates at numerous five-star hotels and high-end homestays hit 100%, showcasing the city’s strong “tourism momentum.”

With its beautiful scenery and centuries of cultural heritage, Qingdao has also earned its national title as a historical and cultural city, possessing the conditions to generate greater value in the tourism industry. Coupled with the butterfly effect brought by the summit, Qingdao welcomed over 100 million visitors in 2018, laying a solid foundation for shaping its nighttime economy.

On the other hand, nighttime economy destinations like Qingdao Underwater World continue to innovate and iterate their operational models, using technology to refresh projects and products, and striving to create a dreamlike nighttime marine experience.

Qingdao Underwater World: Leading the Breakthrough in Urban Nighttime Economy

Take Qingdao Underwater World as an example—it has become another major nighttime attraction alongside the Fushan Bay light show. In fact, after the daytime bustle fades, watching the nearby light displays while exploring the underwater realm amidst dazzling lights and marine life offers visitors an incredibly captivating marine spectacle.

This, in turn, boosts consumption across the scenic area’s cultural and creative brands, interactive experiences, and amusement facilities, generating longer-term economic effects. This better illustrates the word-of-mouth and associated consumption impact of the nighttime economy, rather than relying solely on ticket sales.

As a must-visit landmark in Qingdao, the site houses approximately 2,000 species and tens of thousands of rare marine specimens, allowing visitors to see thousands of species and tens of thousands of marine creatures from around the globe. At the same time, Underwater World actively explores the nighttime economy. Leveraging the summit’s popularity, it extended its operating hours, using the dreamy ambiance created by Qingdao’s top ten scenic spots—such as “Huiquan Treading Waves,” “Yushan Haiyue,” and “Qinyu Floating Lights”—to trade time for space. This allows visitors to escape the daytime heat and noise, enjoying the romance and tranquility of the night and immersing themselves in a “Marine Magic Night” themed around ocean culture. Here, visitors can enjoy spectacular performances like the thrilling human-shark dance and mermaid shows, where sharks cruise by, jellyfish dance, seahorses cradle their young to sleep, and turtles stroll leisurely—perfectly showcasing Qingdao’s deep-rooted marine culture as a city born of the sea.

Additionally, a series of nighttime products have been developed, including the world’s largest single acrylic cylinder exhibit featuring colorful coral landscapes, various sea anemones, and numerous tropical marine creatures. In the “Octonauts” themed exhibition area and the instant “fish headgear” AR interactive zone, a range of highlights showcase premium marine life using AR (augmented reality) and holographic projection technologies, offering visitors an extraordinary underwater nightlife experience.

The breeze comes from Qingdao, and the nighttime journey goes underwater. Start your nighttime exploration of Qingdao from Underwater World. Using price as a lever and service as support (including free shuttle buses from Underwater World to May Fourth Square for the light show), it is the leadership of venues like Underwater World in nighttime tourism models that has successfully steered Qingdao’s nighttime economy toward systematic and differentiated development.

In my view, the focus of developing nighttime tourism still lies in the integration of culture and tourism. Like Underwater World, it’s essential to keep pace with the city’s unique features and the ever-evolving demands of tourists, offering diverse experiences and quality services. It’s also crucial to skillfully utilize cutting-edge new media communication concepts, tapping into urban hotspots, events, and topics to craft more compelling and impactful “nighttime tourism stories.”

With its rich cultural and tourism resources and the prosperity of a century-long accumulation, international Qingdao demonstrates strong inclusiveness while also endowing the city with immense appeal. Globally speaking, the title of "the Switzerland of the East" has gained widespread fame alongside the hosting of major events, and the most direct benefit is the sustained prosperity of the tourism industry, represented by the night-time economy.

Riding the wave of the night-time economy, Qingdao is leveraging a night tour model that combines "signature attractions + innovative technology + maritime culture," exemplified by the Underwater World, to shape the city's night-time economic landscape. In the future, it is believed that Qingdao will seize the opportunities of the post-summit era and capitalize on the development dividends brought by the night-time economy to truly establish an all-region, all-weather tourism environment. This will comprehensively propel Qingdao toward becoming an open, modern, vibrant, and fashionable international metropolis.