Against the backdrop that Jiangnan University, Wuxi Tourism Bureau and Wuxi Municipal Development and Reform Commission applied to set up a municipal research base after discussion, the Research Base for Tourism and Regional Development in Wuxi (hereinafter referred to as the Base) of Jiangnan University is established on March 16, 2013, with approval from Jiangnan University, based on the Wuxi Tourism Development Research Center, which was jointly set up by Wuxi Municipality and Jiangnan University in April 2009.

Instituted inside School of Business, Jiangnan University, the Base is led by director Cao Bingru, master supervisor of School of Business, and Director Jiang Yunjie, Director of Wuxi Tourism Bureau. Among the ten core members, there are four professors, four associate professors and four doctors. The Base mainly focuses on the following three research directions: tourism resource development and planning; management research of enterprises in tourism industry, and regional economic and social development and planning.

Up until now, the Base has achieved outstanding research accomplishments. In the past four years, the Base has released 48 reports and plans including Wuxi Tourism Industry Development Plan, National Economic and Social Development Plan, the 13th Five-year Comprehensive Development Plan, industry-tailored plans and specific researches and consultancy reports, many of which have been adopted by departments of Wuxi Municipal Government. Each year in the Two Sessions (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), the Base submitted three proposals and all have been executed. In addition, the Base has won one first prize of Excellent Research Award of Wuxi Municipal Political Consultative Conference, one second prize of Jiusan Society Proposals for National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Conference (CPPCC). Three projects received instructions from leaders of the country, Jiangsu Province, Wuxi Municipal Committee and Wuxi Municipal Government and five government sponsored researches have been granted. The annual cost of scientific research of RMB 600,000 laid a solid foundation for the development of the Base.

With integrated talent resources, the Base has been focusing on the following vertical and horizontal science researches: Wuxi tourism resources integration and recreational travel products development and optimization; major travel projects development and construction and concentrated and intensive development of tourism industry; Wuxi tourism market promotion and image, brand building; related urban infrastructure construction and related industrial development; open scenic area service standardization and tourism enterprises’ operation and income improvement and etc. The China-South Korea FinTech Cooperation Service Zone, part of the 13th Five-year plan of Comprehensive Study on Regional National Economic and Social Development, was formally established with approval from Ministry of Commerce of PRC and won the second prize of Excellent Achievement Award of Social Sciences of Jiangsu Province. Urban-rural integration pilot district (town, street) construction (won the second prize of Excellent Achievement Award of Social Sciences of Jiangsu Province); Wuxi East New City Urbanization Research, Wuxi Open Economy Development Research and Corporate Decision-making research. All these researches have won 12 second and third prizes of provincial and municipal social sciences excellent achievement awards and received instructions from national leaders and mayor of Wuxi.

In addition to science researches in tourism and regional economic and social development and high-level talent cultivation, the Base released 12 plans on Wuxi Tourism, National Economic and Social Development, and initial researches of industry-oriented development plan, providing forward-looking, scientific and reliable references for local governments’ decision-making and greatly contributed to intangible cultural heritage application, cultural tourism industry development and regional economic and social development.