Jiang Nan, commercial department director of the West China region of commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group, said a key factor of any city's night tour project is the combination of culture and tourism, and telling the city's story in an appealing way.

Infrastructure construction, such as transportation, will affect the import of passenger flow directly, said Jiang, adding the rapid development of the tourist market in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, can be heavily attributed to its high-speed train development.

"And the next step is to design a major theme for a city based on its own qualities," Jiang said. "For example, leisure and comfort are typical draws for Chengdu."

Chengdu has a target of 260 million tourists this year, including 3.8 million inbound tourists, and 465 billion yuan ($68.8 billion) in tourism income, said Wang Min, deputy director of the Chengdu Culture, Radio, and TV, Press, and Publication Bureau.

Besides renowned city calling cards such as panda and local cuisine, Chengdu will also build a series of tourism-related centers such as the Asia-Pacific Tourism Big Data Center and Tourism Talent Centers — with themed night tours as an integral part of the whole business.