Top 10 China tourism stories in 2017

The China National Tourism Administration's top 10 tourism stories in China in 2017:

1. President Xi Jinping gives instructions on the toilet revolution and tourism development

On Nov 21, 2017, President Xi Jinping gave instructions on how to promote the toilet revolution in the tourism industry.

He said the Chinese tourism industry has demonstrated a down-to-earth attitude toward addressing practical issues when advancing the toilet revolution over the past few years.

He said that toilet improvement is not a trivial matter, but is key to the improvement of urban and rural environments. It should not be limited to scenic zones or urban areas, but should also be extended to rural areas as part of efforts to revitalize the rural economy and improve rural living conditions.

The tourism industry has been promoting the toilet revolution since 2015, and so far, a total of 68,000 tourist toilets have been built or renovated.

2. China initiates World Tourism Alliance

The World Tourism Alliance was founded on Sept 12, 2017, and 137 tourism ministers and deputies as well as the heads of 41 international organizations attended the launch ceremony.

The alliance, initiated by the Chinese government, is the world's first global, non-governmental and nonprofit tourism organization. On Dec 17, the alliance signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the government of Zhejiang province, declaring that it would base its headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of the province.

3. Integrated tourism in full swing

President Xi Jinping said that China is moving in the right direction in terms of integrated tourism development and should maintain such development. The government work report delivered in March also proposed to "improve tourism facilities and services and vigorously develop rural tours, leisure tours and integrated tourism".

So far, China has more than 500 model projects for integrated tourism development distributed across 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

4. Institutional reform in tourism industry kicks off with establishment of 25 provincial commissions on tourism development

Active efforts have been made across China to reform the tourism administration and governance mechanisms in order to adapt to the latest changes in the integrated development and governance of tourism.

On Dec 15, Chongqing established the municipal commission on tourism development. By then, a total of 25 Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities directly under the central government had their own commissions on tourism development. In Jiangxi province, a three-tiered tourism governance system has been established, comprising provincial, municipal and county-level commissions on tourism development.

5. "Tourism +" rises as the new mode for inter-sector development

On May 19, China announced the top 10 bases for technology tourism, part of a tourism industry drive to promote the development of industry specific tourism. Meanwhile, wetland, sports, ice and snow, industrial and forest tourism have all been flourishing along with study tours.