An annual symposium held in Beijing on Saturday gathered researchers and industry insiders to share insights on promoting the development of China's cultural tourism industry, as the country continues to roll out preferential policies to encourage more visitors.
The symposium witnessed the release of an annual research report on China's Cultural Industry and Tourism, which pointed out that cultural tourism was a key driver of domestic demand, promoted employment opportunities, and shored up market confidence during 2024.
Experts noted that inbound tourism recovered well last year, with the rebound driven by a slew of supporting measures which were rolled out to entice overseas tourists to China, with more countries being added to the list of visa-exemptions, while recent steps to permit eligible travelers to stay for up to 240 hours have also been hailed.
"International tourism saw one of its best years in terms of its recovery in 2024, reaching over 90 percent of the pre-pandemic level. The Chinese government has rolled out a series of preferential policies for inbound tourism, which includes the relaxation to a 240-hour visa-free period," said Fan Zhou, director of the Jinghe Institute of Culture and Tourism, referring to the new policy which was introduced last month and applies to the citizens of 54 countries.
Researchers have also stressed that cultural tourism is playing a key role in promoting sustainable development, with popular cultural products such as social media videos to drama productions helping serve as a vital stepping stone to raise awareness and achieve the goals set out by the United Nations.
"After the United Nations launched the [2030] Sustainable Development Agenda, we found there is a significant common characteristic among the countries that actively promote the agenda. They use cultural tourism to drive the sustainable development of their own countries. Cultural products like short videos, short dramas, and other similar products have given us lots of possibilities to achieve this goal," said Yi Na, vice dean of the School of Chinese Language and Literature of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The newly-released report also noted the emergence of a new business model that combines cultural tourism with other industries, with healthcare, digital sector, and China's fledging low-altitude industry among those being integrated.
"As cultural tourism develops, it's relatively easy for us to improve the facilities but changing the mindset is more challenging, such as improving the service industry models. How to achieve both goals and take advantage of the huge influence of the internet are the problems that need the most careful consideration. Because cultural tourism can help various industries develop and vice versa, we can use this strong online traffic to promote the development of other industries through greater coordination," said Li Xinjian, executive director of Beijing Institute of Culture and Tourism Development of Beijing International Studies University.
Development of cultural tourism sector discussed at annual symposium
