2021.09.24
On September 23, the 6th Conference of Hebei Tourism Industry Development kicked off at She County, Handan City. Guests from more than 20 countries and regions attended the conference online and offline. Wang Dongfeng, the Party Secretary of CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of Hebei Provincial People’s Congress, announced the opening of the conference. Xu Qin, Deputy Party Secretary of CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and Governor of Hebei Province, Wang Xiaofeng, Member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Duan Qiang, Chairman of World Tourism Alliance (WTA) and President of China Tourism Association delivered speeches. Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and Eric Duluc, Chairman of the International Tourism Federation (ITF) delivered speeches through videos.
Duan Qiang said in his speech, “Hebei is an important tourism province with a long history, abundant tourism resources and profound cultural heritage. In recent years, the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the provincial government have made great efforts to implement the strategy of tourism industrialization and high-quality tourism, contributing to the rapid growth of the number of tourists and income and enabling the province to rank top in terms of tourism growth. Hebei Province should seize the unique and significant opportunities such as the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the preparation for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Relying on the rich resources and favorable development conditions, the province should vigorously implement the strategy of tourism industrialization and high-quality tourism and promote the integrated development of culture and tourism, so as to realize the leapfrog development shifting from the promotion by departments to the overall promotion by the Party and the government, from resource dependence to innovation driving, from scenic spots to all-for-one tourism, from a single form of business to the deep integration of multiple industries, and from an important industry to a strategic pillar industry.” He said that WTA would further give play to the leading role of the industry organization and international organization in the tourism sector, build an exchange platform for the recovery and future sustainable development of the global tourism industry, provide high-quality tourism services and products, and benefit people around the world in a better manner.
In his speech, Xu Qin said, “Hebei boasts a magnificent revolutionary history, splendid traditional culture, majestic and beautiful natural sceneries and an open and inclusive cultural environment, making it a colorful chapter of beautiful China.” General Secretary Xi Jinping highly values the development of tourism, stressing that “tourism is an important channel for exchanges and mutual learning between different countries and cultures. It is an effective means for economic development and job creation and an important industry for improvement of people’s living standards.” In recent years, Hebei has unswervingly promoted the deep integration of culture and tourism. Moreover, it has consecutively held 5 provincial-level tourism industry development conferences and more than 50 municipal-level tourism industry development conferences. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period (2016-2020), 2.88 billion visits were made to the province which had total tourism revenue of RMB 3.1 trillion, effectively promoting the high-quality economic and social development. Hebei will give priority to ecology and green development, promote the integration of culture and tourism, vigorously develop tourism themed on the revolution tourism, health tourism, village tourism and ecological tourism, offer more diversified tourism products and services, quicken the pace of leaping from a big tourism province to a strong tourism province, and provide a strong support for building Hebei into a rich and beautiful province.
Themed with “Inheriting Revolution Spirit and Innovating Green Development”, the Conference of Hebei Tourism Industry Development focuses on building “National Model Scenic Spots of Tourism Themed on the Revolution” and “Cultural and Tourism Economic Belt of Taihang Red River Valley” to form 7 areas including Taihang Red River Valley, Water-Like Ancient Cizhou, Health Maintenance at East Taihang Mountains, Xiangtang Grotto Temple, Fuxing Garden Expo, Guangfu Taiji City and Zhao State Return Lane, striving to build a cultural tourism destination famous around the world.