Eighteen key cultural tourism projects signed at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Shandong High-Quality Cultural and Tourism Industry Development Conference on April 25. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]
The 2024 Shandong High-Quality Cultural and Tourism Industry Development Conference opened in Linyi, East China's Shandong province, on April 25, serving as a key platform to strengthen exchanges for the high-quality development of the cultural tourism sector.
Shandong has been actively advancing the innovative transformation of Chinese culture and promoting its two cultural tourism brands – Friendly Shandong and Remarkable Shandong – to foster high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industries, said Zhou Naixiang, governor of Shandong, during his speech at the opening ceremony.
In 2023, Shandong received around 820 million visits by tourists from home and abroad, generating tourism revenue topping 970 billion yuan ($134 billion) and the value-added of the cultural and tourism industry saw solid growth of 11.9 percent year-on-year.
As one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization, Shandong is rich in historical and cultural resources and natural scenery, said Li Qun, vice-minister of Culture and Tourism, at the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Li called on Shandong to leverage its cultural tourism assets to deepen exchanges and cooperation and to enhance the influence of the Chinese civilization on the global stage.
A night view of Langya Ancient City, the host venue for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Shandong High-Quality Cultural and Tourism Industry Development Conference. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]
The two-day event includes an opening ceremony, a cultural relics-themed tourism conference, the Shandong International Travel Operators Conference and a cultural tourism project promotional conference.
At the opening ceremony, 18 key cultural tourism projects were signed to serve the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry.
Ten major cultural heritage tourism routes were launched during the event, to leverage cultural relics to revitalize cultural resources and promote the deep integration of culture and tourism.
These routes, featuring cultural relics related to the Yellow River, the Grand Canal, the Great Wall of ancient Qi state, ancient architectures and Confucius culture, involve 232 cultural heritage sites across 16 cities in Shandong.
Sixteen measures were released at the Shandong International Travel Operators Conference as a result of the joint efforts of 14 departments, including the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, to accelerate the high-quality development of inbound tourism.
Inbound tourism is of great importance in elevating the tourism sector, driving economic growth and consumption, and promoting the opening to the outside world, said Deng Yunfeng, vice-governor of Shandong.
Under these measures, more effort will be made to optimize visa and customs clearance policies, develop more inbound tourism product routes and improve inbound payment methods.
