The four-day 5th China （Shenzhen） International Cultural Industries Fair （ICIF） closed yesterday at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, with a record number of visitors and business transactions despite the global crisis.

More than 3.51 million people had visited the Fifth China （Shenzhen） International Cultural Industries Fair at the convention center and another 30 subvenues across the city. This was 830,000 more than last year. The transaction volume was 87.7 billion yuan （US$1.29 billion） by 2 p.m. yesterday, 17.53 billion yuan more than last year, the organizer said.

A total of 15,000 buyers from 56 countries and regions attended, 20 percent more than last year. They negotiated export transactions worth 8.766 billion yuan, Wang Jingsheng, head of the Publicity Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC, said.

Of the export deals, 4.38 billion yuan involved products to be exported to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and 2.58 billion yuan to the U.S. and European countries.

Shenzhen exports had slowed last year but cultural product exports had increased 28 percent compared with 2007.

This remarkable increase was largely attributed to the influence of the cultural industries fair, Wang said.

The fair also raised the cultural industry production volume in the city’s GDP from 3 percent in 2004, when the first fair was held, to 7 percent in 2008.