The Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) issued a notice to promote the implementation of major cultural and tourism projects, stabilize investment in the industry and help resume business.
The notice urges local administrative departments to actively communicate with local finance, development and reform departments and make cultural and tourism industry a key support program. They should apply for the governmental financial support during the centralized application period and complete the application for qualified major projects in the cultural and tourism fields to gain financial support through local bond programs.
As of the end of March, 23, local governments had issued special bonds in support of the cultural and tourism sectors, raising a total of USD 1.87 billion (€1.72 billion), according to the China Central Depository & Clearing (CCDC).
The notice made it clear that local governments should take a systematical and localized approach to define potential projects as significant. Such projects can be defined broadly as cultural tourism, and additionally by their features, such as ecological environment protection, agriculture, forestry and water conservancy, municipal and industrial park infrastructure.
The special bonds are a result of recent reforms of investment and financing system. It gives local governments an avenue to legally borrow in the mode of "collective borrowing and repayment", as a new mean to raise funds other than tax revenues.
