Chongqing - 2021 Forum on Bashu Culture & Tourism Integrated Development was held in Ba'nan District. This forum aimed to promote the exchange of culture & tourism between Sichuan and Chongqing and push forward the Bashu Culture & Tourism Corridor construction. Experts on culture & tourism, officials from culture & tourism administrations at all levels, representatives from culture & tourism enterprises, and media attended this activity.

How to build a world-class culture & tourism destination through joint efforts of Sichuan and Chongqing? Experts, representatives from culture & tourism administrations at all levels, and representatives from operators of the culture & tourism programs shared their opinions at the forum.

Hu Zhiyi, the associate dean and professor of the Geography and Tourism Department of Chongqing Normal University, introduced advantages that Sichuan and Chongqing have to build a world-class culture & tourism destination jointly. In his opinion, firstly, there were abundant world-class and high-quality culture & tourism resources in Sichuan- Chongqing region. For example, there are 8 World Heritages in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, which outnumbers any other places in China; there are 17 first-class national museums in the Sichuan-Chongqing region that are next to Beijing and Shandong who have 18 museums respectively; the number of 25 national 5A tourism attractions in the region is equal to Jiangsu, the first ranked province in the number of owning 5A tourism attractions; the number of 5 national tourism resorts in the region is next to that of Zhejiang, the top province in the number of owning national tourism resorts. Based on these statistics, culture & tourism resources in the Sichuan-Chongqing region have remarkable advantages in terms of qualities and scales. Secondly, the developed transportation networks, including international aviation hubs, advanced highway, and high-speed railway networks in the region, have provided a favorable condition to construct a world-class tourism destination. Moreover, the national strategy to construct Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle has boosted the synergistic development between Sichuan and Chongqing regarding culture & tourism. For example, more market entities in Sichuan-Chongqing like Hongyadong in Chongqing and Kuanzhai Alley in Sichuan have joined hands to develop and promote culture & tourism resources. The integrated resources have laid a solid foundation to build a world-class culture & tourism destination.

When it comes to opportunities, Hu Zhiyi thought that the growing comprehensive national strength and the Sichuan-Chongqing region's increasing development level would provide lots of opportunities. Meanwhile, upgrading the city like the remodeling Mountain City Alley and the rural revitalization also give great opportunities to construct a world-class culture & tourism destination.

Lv Yongcai, the director of Ba’nan District Committee of Culture & Tourism District in Chongqing, shared Ba’nan ’s experience in participating in the construction of the world-class tourism destination. There is a conception that “what’s unique for a nation is also precious for the world.” Ba’nan has always been committed to the conception by exploiting its unique Ba culture and building the “Ba” brand. It has hosted seminars and invited experts in China to discuss the “Ba” culture and integrated intangible culture items in Ba’nan like Mudong Folk Songs, Jielong Chuida, and so forth into a drama to promote and carry forward the “Ba” culture. Meanwhile, on the one hand, it has remodeled and preserved traditional residences; on the other hand, Ba’nan has created a fashionable cultural brand, “Baba Tiger.” The “Baba Tiger” brand has been implanted into some creative cultural products of Ba’nan like porcelains. Meanwhile, enterprises in the agricultural and manufacturing fields in Ba’nan District also want the “Baba Tiger” to be implanted into their culture. In addition, “Ba” culture has also been integrated into its tourism products.

At the forum, Dazu District, Shibati Tourist Attraction from Chongqing, and Ziyang, Dazhou from Sichuan province also shared their own experience in exploiting their unique traditional culture and integrating fashionable elements to build the world-class tourism destination.

Moreover, activities like keynote speeches on Bashu Culture & Tourism Integrated Development, agreement signing ceremony, and culture & tourism promotion were also held.