2022.06.27
The Tourism Development Conference of Shandong 2022 opened at the Nishan Sacred Land in Jining city, Shandong province, on the evening of June 26. Li Ganjie, Party Secretary of Shandong, announced the opening of the conference, Deputy Party Secretary and Governor Zhou Naixiang delivered a speech at the opening ceremony chaired by Bai Yugang, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Provincial Committee and head of the Provincial Publicity Department. Liu Shijun, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Alliance (WTA), attended and delivered a speech. Kobilov Rustam Rajabboyevich, Deputy Governor of the Samarkand region in Uzbekistan, and Mayor Naohide Hayakawa of Ashikaga, a city in Japan, made video remarks.
In his speech, Governor Zhou noted that Shandong boasts rich cultural heritage and tourist resources, the most famous of which are Mount Tai, the estuary of the Yellow River, and the birthplace of Confucius. As COVID-19 is still raging around the world, tourism development faces severe challenges. By hosting this conference, Shandong is following the instructions and requirements of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and hopes to strongly boost the market confidence in the cultural and tourism industries while doing a good job in containing the spread of COVID-19. Shouldering the glorious mission to “take the lead and open up new ground,” the province will continue to develop new cultural and tourism products, support cultural and tourism startups, and strive to seek innovation in resource transformation, in the development of products and business forms, in management and services, in public communication and promotion, and in opening up and cooperation, thus to accelerate the high-quality development of the tourism industry.
Mr. Liu Shijun said that tourism is an important industry for expanding demand, maintaining stable economic growth, increasing employment and benefiting the people, and also important for meeting the people’s aspiration for a better life. The conference takes place at a time when the COVID-19 crisis is felt in every link of the tourism industry chain and supply chain, injects great confidence into the tourism industry and sets a good example in promoting the revival of tourism. The WTA will work with the government and all walks of society in Shandong to promote the integrated development of tourism with increased breadth and depth and at a higher level, and jointly build up Shandong’s reputation as a hospitable destination.
At the opening ceremony, senior officials of Jining introduced local cultural and tourism resources, and the Network of International Culturalink Entities signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, followed by the contract signing of key cultural and tourism projects and the launch of a special action for the financial sector to support the cultural and tourism industries. Later during the conference, Mr. Liu was invited to attend a group meeting hosted by the province’s Party Secretary Li Ganjie and Deputy Party Secretary and Governor Zhou Naixiang.
The conference was co-hosted by the Shandong Provincial Committee of the CPC and the Shandong Provincial People’s Government, and co-undertaken by the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Jining Municipal Committee of the CPC and the Jining Municipal People’s Government. This year’s conference theme was “Take the Lead, Open up New Ground and Strive for Effective Epidemic Control and Innovative Development of the Cultural and Tourism Industries.” The conference took place both online and offline, with Nishan Holy Land in Qufu as the main venue, and several sub-venues in other cities and counties (including county-level cities and districts) across the province. Besides the opening ceremony, conferees also attended working meetings, participated in project observations and enjoyed an exhibition of high-quality tourism development of 16 cities.