In the meanwhile, 10 festivals and fairs have become high-level cultural tourism development platforms of the city.

They include the Guangzhou Cultural Industry Fair and the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, local media reported. They said Guangzhou has always been in the vanguard of cultural innovation. Cultural creativity sectors, such as electronic sports and live broadcasting, have given vitality to traditional culture in the city, which is home to several large companies in those fields.

Guangzhou houses 2,826 large cultural enterprises and more than 150 cultural creativity industry parks and centers. Eight internet-based cultural companies from the city were added to the list of China's top 100 internet companies for 2019. The list was released by the Internet Society of China and the internet security industry development center at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

An Opera stage awaits a performance in Yongqing Fang. CHINA DAILY

Li Mingchong, an executive director at a cultural industry research center of the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said: "Guangzhou boasts good internet ecology, an inclusive culture ambience, professionals and scientific research innovation."

It has used opportunities of mobile internet and digitalization and as a result its emerging cultural industries thrived, Li said.

Digital content, animation, games, live broadcasts, internet culture and digital publishing are becoming a new impetus to Guangzhou's cultural development and promoting the city's international influence.

A local report showed added value of Guangzhou's cultural sectors amounted to 160 billion yuan ($24.4 billion) last year, accounting for 6.77 percent of the city's GDP.

Emerging industries, such as online games, media websites and virtual reality, are expected to increase rapidly this year.

According to the Guangzhou government's plans, cultural industries will become one of the city's pillar sectors of strategic importance by the end of 2035.