Shandong conference boosts cultural tourism sector

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.