Tianfu Cultural Tourism Shareholder Changes: Aiming to Layout Film and Tourism Integration?

China Economic Journalists Li Zhu and Zhang Jingchao Chengdu Report

Recently, Tianfu Cultural Tourism (000558.SZ) announced that its controlling shareholder, Chengdu Sports Industry Investment Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chengdu Sports Investment Group”), plans to transfer free of charge its 385 million shares (accounting for 29.9% of the total share capital) to Chengdu Cultural Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chengdu Cultural Tourism Group”).

Public information from Tianyancha shows that Tianfu Cultural Tourism’s transferor, Chengdu Sports Investment Group, was established in 2018, with a focus on the sports industry. Backed by Chengdu Sports Investment Group, Tianfu Cultural Tourism has previously engaged in real estate and sports sectors; its controlling entity, Chengdu Cultural Tourism Group, was founded in 2007 and is the core operational platform for Chengdu’s cultural tourism industry. At the end of last year, Tianfu Cultural Tourism stated in its announcement that to promote diversified development of film and tourism integration, it has reached similar cooperation agreements with 21 cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province, initially building a comprehensive film-tourism cooperation network across Sichuan. As of press time, Tianfu Cultural Tourism has not updated further information on the progress of these collaborations.

Xu Xiting, Director of the Professional Committee for Immersive Cultural Tourism Industry of the China Cultural Industry Association, told China Business Journal that the phenomenon of “a hit drama boosting a city” has shifted from an occasional occurrence to a norm, but the “fireworks effect” of “cast dispersal” remains a common pain point. He believes that traditional “film + tourism” models are mostly unidirectional, passive, and short-term traffic hookups. To shift from “leveraging trends for traffic” to a deep symbiotic mechanism of “IP co-creation and two-way empowerment,” film and TV IPs and city brands should not be simple “use” and “being used” relationships. Instead, they need to be embedded and grow together from the planning stage. IPs provide emotional narratives and distinctive symbols for cities, while cities inject authentic cultural textures and sustainable operational scenarios into IPs, forming a closed-loop ecosystem of “content—scenes—consumption—re-creation.”

Unsuccessful Transformation

Looking back at the development of Tianfu Cultural Tourism, it has undergone multiple strategic transformations, but profitability remains challenging.

The predecessor of Tianfu Cultural Tourism was “Rhein Sports.” In February last year, this listed company changed its name from Rhein Sports Development Co., Ltd. to Chengdu New Tianfu Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd., with its stock abbreviation changing to “Tianfu Cultural Tourism.” Before rebranding as “Tianfu Cultural Tourism,” the company did not focus on a single industry but experienced multiple shifts, involving energy, real estate, sports, and other sectors.

Although the name change aimed to align the company’s branding with its industry layout and accelerate transformation, little progress was made. Performance-wise, the “pan-cultural tourism and sports” integration transformation has not succeeded. Rhein Sports’ financial reports show continuous losses from 2020 to 2022, a brief profit turnaround in 2023, and losses again in 2024. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company, excluding non-recurring gains and losses, has been negative for several years, indicating operational difficulties.

The 2025 semi-annual report shows that Tianfu Cultural Tourism’s main businesses include ice and snow tourism, film-tourism integration, conferences and exhibitions, sports operations, and a small amount of real estate leasing and sales.

The reporter also noted that after this free transfer, Chengdu Sports Investment Group will no longer hold shares of Tianfu Cultural Tourism, with the latter’s controlling shareholder changing to Chengdu Cultural Tourism Group. However, the transfer still requires registration and transfer procedures with securities depository and clearing institutions. Tianfu Cultural Tourism also specifically stated in the announcement that Chengdu Sports Investment Group’s commitments to avoid competition and regulate related-party transactions will be inherited by Chengdu Cultural Tourism Group.

Yang Yang, a professional in the film industry, pointed out that with Chengdu Cultural Tourism Group’s involvement, the synergy between Tianfu Cultural Tourism and Chengdu’s tourism resources will become closer. However, the cultural tourism sector it bets on faces fierce homogeneous competition.

Tianfu Cultural Tourism’s 2025 performance forecast shows that the company is still in a loss phase. Specifically, it expects a net profit attributable to the parent company of between 15 million and 30 million yuan in 2025.

As of press time, Tianfu Cultural Tourism has not responded to inquiries about whether it has found new profit models amid ongoing losses.

Focusing on Film and Tourism

However, this adjustment may help Tianfu Cultural Tourism focus more on the film and tourism sector. The company’s forecast states that its revenue increased significantly due to growth in film and TV production, with total film and TV revenue reaching about 328 million yuan, an increase of 111 million yuan from the previous year. Overall, film and TV accounts for nearly 60% of its revenue.

The reporter learned that various regions are actively deploying in the film-tourism sector. According to information released by the National Film Administration in February this year, China’s entire film industry chain is projected to reach a value of 8,172.59 billion yuan in 2025, with a box office multiplier of approximately 1:15.77, ranking among the top globally. The spillover and driving output value, including tourism-driven catering, transportation, retail, film IP derivatives, filming bases, scenic spots, theme parks, and film festivals, amounts to 3,390.95 billion yuan.

Tianfu Cultural Tourism is also expanding its film-tourism cooperation across Sichuan. In November last year, it announced plans to jointly participate with Aba Dajiuzhai Tourism Group Co., Ltd. in the operation of the Lixian Bìpénggōu Scenic Area, including a cash acquisition of part of the equity of Lixian Bìpénggōu Tourism Development Co., Ltd. The announcement stated that this move aims to solidify its ice and snow tourism strategy, build a leisure and vacation destination matrix, optimize asset structure, and improve operational efficiency. A week later, the parties signed a “Letter of Intent for Equity Transaction,” with Tianfu Cultural Tourism planning to pay an earnest money of 8 million yuan and actively promote the transaction.

At the end of last year, Tianfu Cultural Tourism announced further cooperation by signing framework agreements with Nanchong Gaoping District Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, Mianzhu Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, and Meishan Dongpo Old Home Cultural Tourism Investment Co., Ltd., to promote film-tourism integration. These agreements aim to leverage each region’s advantages, explore market opportunities, and fuse city IPs with film IPs to create new highlands of film and tourism integration.

However, it is worth noting that most of these collaborations are framework agreements, and project implementation still requires time. Tianfu Cultural Tourism has not responded to questions about whether technological advancements will bring new changes to these collaborations.

Xu Xiting believes that VR/AR, AIGC, virtual filming, and other technologies should aim to break the “fourth wall,” enabling a transition from “watching” to “entering,” transforming abstract narratives into perceptible, interactive immersive environments. He cited examples such as “My Altay,” shot in true 4K+native HDR to restore natural healing effects, and “Tang Palace Night Banquet,” which earned China’s first virtual reality film certification, allowing viewers to “step into” the Tang Dynasty banquet via VR headsets.

Zhang Zheng, Vice Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University and Deputy Director of the Tsinghua Cultural and Creative Development Research Institute, believes that the success of the “drama leading city” phenomenon lies in the excellent role of TV dramas as “super promotional videos” for city images or tourist destinations. They incorporate local scenery, customs, and daily life details into stories, resonating with and inspiring audiences. Whether local governments and enterprises can convert the traffic gained from film and TV into lasting tourism appeal depends on the availability of high-quality tourism products and services.

How City IP and Film IP Interact

Popular film and TV works often bring significant attention to filming locations. However, if visitors only see these places as passive “backdrops,” lacking the system to convert online emotional resonance into deep offline experiences and long-term brand assets, the effect is limited. Experts suggest that cities should prepare supporting services for tourists and consider productizing and standardizing the content presented in films and TV shows. This is key to transforming film-tourism from a fleeting trend into a sustained attraction, ultimately forming a true IP.

Tianfu Cultural Tourism hopes to leverage film-tourism integration to consolidate tourism operation experience, tourism scene resources, and a comprehensive service network across Sichuan. It aims to develop new tourism products and routes, focus on high-quality tourism resources and scenes, and expand into film shooting bases, film study tours, film training, and IP incubation, continuously broadening the space for film and TV development and promoting integrated growth of film and tourism.

Regarding how to connect city IP with film IP, Xu Xiting suggests that local governments should shift from “site providers” to “strategic co-builders,” proactively integrating tourism development needs into film project planning. He explained, “The ‘Film-Tourism Integration 3.0’ model promoted by Sichuan Province and Chengdu focuses on leveraging local resources to attract and serve film crews, even customizing film content for the city, aiming to ‘boost local economy and empower various industries through cultural and creative efforts.’ Chengdu Cultural Tourism Group has also established the country’s first film-tourism integration service provider, upgrading tourism elements like ‘food, accommodation, transportation, entertainment’ into services for film crews, shifting from passive filming to active scene creation.”

To embed “long-term operation” in planning and avoid fleeting success, Xu Xiting advocates building a closed-loop ecosystem of “content—scenes—consumption,” rather than focusing on a single attraction. He emphasizes planning from the outset to go beyond “a check-in point,” integrating IP into the city’s entire “food, accommodation, transportation, shopping, entertainment,” and even educational and health tourism chains.

“Additionally, it’s necessary to establish a dynamic growth and iteration mechanism for IP content. City IP is not a static logo but a living story. Planning should reserve interfaces for content updates. For example, Shaoxing Cultural Tourism revolves around ‘Lu Xun IP,’ not only creating real-scene amusement parks but also continuously modernizing with lectures, developing ‘Xun Genger’ fashion cultural products, and opening themed cafes to keep the IP fresh. Beijing Miyun’s ‘Sunlight Valley’ project updates content at a rate of 30% annually, continuously introducing new nature education and aesthetic activities to maintain attractiveness.”

Zhang Zheng added that if a city already has highly attractive IP, there’s no need to forcibly add film IP. “If a place already has iconic tourism IPs like pandas, Wuhou Shrine, or Kuanzhai Alley, they can be superimposed with film IPs opportunistically, because creating new successful film IPs is often limited, and their appeal may not surpass existing landmark resources.”