Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition - December 2017

33

businesstraveller.com DECEMBER 2017

(HTC), “Hangzhou has
introduced a series of policies to
attract high-tech enterprises to
settle in Hangzhou. Among these,
the ‘Hangzhou Silicon Valley
incubator’ has contributed 21
outstanding high-tech enterprises
that have settled here.”
This incubator project comes
in two forms: a US$50 million
cross-border venture-capital
guidance fund aimed at exploring
the establishment of overseas
equity investment enterprises; and
the implementation of overseas
venture-capital enterprises and
seeking out angel investors to invest
in the pilot work of Hangzhou-
based, non-listed enterprises.
But the city’s promotion of its
tech-hub credentials isn’t limited to direct
funding of such initiatives. “Hangzhou has spawned
a large number of well-known internet companies,
but the superior entrepreneurial environment has also
encouraged a proliferation of financial enterprises,
cultural and creative enterprises,” said an HTC
spokesperson.
In particular, the events industry is seen as a major
player in the city’s ongoing economic development.
“The MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences
and exhibitions] industry is seen as an important
breakthrough in the transformation and development of
Hangzhou’s tourism industry, the promotion of urban
internationalisation, and the creation of a high-end
international conference destination,” stated the HTC.
“Development of the MICE industry will promote
theregionaleconomyandwillalsoserveasapotential
attraction for high-tech enterprises.”
The city certainly aims high in its hosting of major
international events: in September 2016, Hangzhou
hosted the G20 summit, attended by world leaders from
China,theUS,Russia,Germany,France,theUK,Japan,
South Korea and India, among others. This was the
summit that saw the ratification of the Paris Agreement
by then-US President Barack Obama and Chinese
President Xi Jinping (the same agreement from which
current US President Donald Trump controversially
announced the US would withdraw). As well as being the
first G20 Summit to be held in China, it was also one of
the few in the conference’s history held in a secondary city.
Visitors to Hangzhou can view the very halls where
key meetings were held – the Hangzhou International
Expo Center has kept key rooms from the G20 Summit
set up as exhibits. The Expo Center is also home to one
of Alibaba’s aforementioned unmanned convenience
stores, located outside the main entrance. Further down
the line in 2022, Hangzhou is also set to play host to
the Asian Games.

The city has aimed

high in its hosting of

major international

events,suchas

2016’s G20 Summit

CLOCKWISE FROM

OPPOSITE TOP:

One of Alibaba’s

unmanned, app-

operated Tao Cafés;

inside an Expo

Center hall used for

the G20 Summit;

the Hangzhou

International

Expo Center

With major developments in business,

MICE and tourism, it comes as no surprise

that air connectivity to the city has also been

increasing. Xiamen Airlines will start f lying

between Hangzhou and Melbourne as of this

month, while Beijing-based Capital Airlines’

one-stop service to Lisbon via Beijing took

off in July – the Beijing-Lisbon leg being the

first non-stop connection between China

and Portugal. Last year American carrier

United Airlines also launched a San Francisco-

Hangzhou service, though this was stopped

in October after being deemed “no longer

economically viable”.

The Hangzhou Tourism Commission states

that more than 200 domestic and international routes

now connect the city with the rest of the world, adding

that “the opening of these intercontinental routes has

allowed Hangzhou to take a big step towards becoming an

international city”.

Then again, if the rate of technological advancement

continues, it might not be too long before visitors can

be airlifted by drone, or simply beamed to their desired

location via an app...

HANGZHOU