In 1984, Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's reform and opening up, boarded the "Minghua Wheel" and inscribed the four words "Sea World", becoming one of the important symbols of China's reform and opening up, and also marking the beginning of the vigorous development of China's tourism industry.
In the early days of the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen lacked distinctive tourism resources and had a relatively weak tourism foundation. In 1980, the Shenzhen Municipal Government, in conjunction with millions of builders who entered the special zone, formulated a tourism development plan to build "Five Lakes and Four Seas", focusing on the spirit of unity, mutual assistance, and friendly cooperation. Over the past 17 years, Xilihu Resort has received more than 6.96 million tourists and successfully hosted athletes and government officials from more than 30 countries and regions who participated in the second Asian Table Tennis Championships, providing successful experience for the tourism planning and development of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.
In 1989, the first theme park in China, Shenzhen Jinxiu Zhonghua, was officially opened with the theme of miniaturizing famous Chinese landscapes. This sparked a wave of enthusiasm in China, where the tourism industry was still in its early stages of development. To this day, Jinxiu Zhonghua remains the world's most diverse and highly restored real-life miniature scenic spot. In 1997, OCT Group, with years of development, integrated its high-quality tourism assets and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first tourism listed company in China to feature theme parks. In 2019, OCT Group entered the top three globally for the first time in the AECOM theme park ranking, with a total of 54 million visitors and over 400 million visitors, firmly ranking first in Asia. The "Happy Valley" under OCT has won the only Chinese well-known trademark in the domestic theme park industry and has been built and opened in seven cities across the country. In 2020, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism actively coordinated and promoted the quality improvement of OCT Group's cultural and tourism projects in Shenzhen, further promoting the construction of a diversified tourism product system in Shenzhen.
In the following forty years of tourism development, Shenzhen drew on its development experience and gradually expanded, strengthened, and optimized its theme parks. The Jinxiu Chinese Folk Culture Village, Window of the World, Happy Valley and other theme parks that have emerged first in China, along with the largest theme park cluster in China formed by the Shenzhen Bay, are widely loved by domestic and foreign tourists, along with theme parks such as the Eastern Overseas Chinese Town and the Meisha Coastal Tourism Area, becoming well-known tourist landmarks in Shenzhen both at home and abroad. Faced with new changes and trends in the market, Shenzhen actively guides traditional travel agencies to transform and upgrade. In 2018, 40 travel agencies were included in the list of "2018 Top 100 Travel Agencies in Guangdong Province" evaluated by the Guangdong Travel Agency Industry Association. As of the end of 2019, there were a total of 985 travel agencies in Shenzhen, including 231 outbound group travel agencies; There are 10426 electronically registered tour guides, including 3018 registered tour leaders.
The holding of a series of activities such as "China Tourism Day", "World Tourism Day", "Shenzhen Eastward Journey · Sailing Across the Sea" yacht tourism promotion, and Shenzhen International Tourism Expo will enhance Shenzhen's influence as a global tourist destination city. Shenzhen hosts major tourism festivals such as the Gold Coast Tourism Festival, Dapeng International Outdoor Carnival, Shenzhen Nanshan Litchi Tourism and Culture Festival, Pingshan Tourism and Culture Festival, and Shajing Golden Oyster Tourism and Culture Festival. It also hosts events such as the Cultural Expo, High Tech Fair, China International Talent Exchange Conference, Shenzhen Reading Month, Shenzhen Fashion Week, as well as major events and competitions such as the Shenzhen International Marathon, WTA and ATP Shenzhen Open, NBA China Shenzhen Station, and China Cup Sailing Race, highlighting the integration and radiation of Shenzhen's "tourism+". By integrating Shenzhen Maritime Sports School, manufacturing enterprises such as Shenzhen Fano Yacht and Daqing Yacht, and industrial terminals such as Dapeng Yacht Club, Seven Star Bay Yacht Club, and Langqi Yacht Club, it brings vitality to the tourism industry chain in Shenzhen.
At present, Shenzhen has developed a comprehensive tourism system and mechanism for government enterprise social cooperation, coordinated the development of "mountains, seas, cities, and people", accelerated the supply side structural reform of traditional tourism, promoted the transformation and upgrading of Shenzhen's tourism industry, innovated new forms of tourism development, and embarked on a path of comprehensive tourism development with distinctive Shenzhen characteristics.