While Shanghai's Pudong New Area is considered as a key part of China's socioeconomic development to boost high-end technology firms and many core industries, it has also grown into a place for people to enjoy their leisure hours.

Shanghai Disneyland is one of the biggest attractions in Pudong. Its popularity among Chinese tourists has inspired Disneyland to expand its services in the domestic market.

In 2019, the resort announced plans to build its first-ever Zootopia-themed entertainment park, based on the popular animation of the same name. Though no specific further details about the plans have been announced yet, Disney said it is ready and willing to contribute to the efforts.

"If we can help Pudong continue to be a pioneer zone through what we can bring as Disney. If we can marry those two things together, we think this whole area will be very successful," said Andrew Bolstein, senior vice president of operations at Shanghai Disney.

Disney is just one element in Shanghai's International Resort, a huge area that includes a shopping village and has plans to expand into the movie industry with a film industrial park.

Next to Disneyland is an outlet called Shanghai Village, featuring more than 200 boutique shops. Both domestic and foreign brands are competing to attract the attention of Chinese wallets.

While the pandemic has suspended global tourism, the shopping village is finding opportunities in other ways. In 2020, 50 new brands opened stores in the village. Consumption levels recorded triple digit growth in the first half of the year, an increase on the year before.

"As things start to normalize, we start to see visitors arriving from other big cities around China. It's a voyage of discovery. Everybody revisited their hometown 100 times over the last 18 months. They have visited things they haven't seen for a long time," said Simon Williamson, chief merchant at Shanghai Village.

Since the establishment five years ago, more than 85 million tourists have contributed $6 billion to the Shanghai International Resort.

Now the resort has bigger ambitions. By the end of 2025, it hopes to welcome more than 25 million tourists every year. And when it does, the whole resort is expected to cover a total area of some 25 square kilometers.