Chongqing - On September 19, the 2022 China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition opened in Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. A total of 36 units of Chongqing participated in this tourism exhibition, including 14 districts and counties in Chongqing, such as Dazu, Liangping, Wulong, and Nanchuan districts, 19 key tourism enterprises, and three cultural institutions, such as Fuling Museum and Liangping District Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center.

Chongqing strives to enhance the international visibility and reputation of the tourism brand image of "A Land of Natural Beauty, A City with Cultural Appeal" through various forms, such as cultural and tourism theme halls, tourism promotion conferences, featured cultural performances, and intangible cultural heritage interactive experiences.

At the exhibition site, the Tujia minority performed Tujia Hands-Swaying Dance. The inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Liang Ping's wood engraving new-year painting and Yongchuan traditional Chinese medicine incense interact with visitors. Each exhibitor actively conducted on-site sales and negotiations with local specialty food, exquisite cultural and creative products, intangible cultural heritage gifts, and publicity materials.

That afternoon, the 2022 Chongqing Tourism Promotion Conference (Guilin) was held at the Guilin International Exhibition and Conference Center. Qin Dingbo, deputy director of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, delivered the opening speech. He said that Chongqing and Guangxi are close regarding landscape, cultural environment, rich and unique natural resources, and flourishing culture and arts.

Chongqing and Nanning are among the first batch of 13 Chinese member cities of the Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance. Chongqing Wulong Karst, Nanchuan Jinfo Mountain, and Guangxi Guilin, Guangxi Huanjiang all belong to the world's natural heritage and are an important part of karst in southern China.

"Sister Jiang," a Sichuan opera from Chongqing, and "Sister Liu," a new tune opera from Guangxi, both recently won the Wenhua Award, the highest honor in China's stage art field.

"It is hoped that Chongqing and Guangxi will further develop mutually beneficial policies and write a new chapter of cultural tourism in Lancang-Mekong cooperation," he added.

Tang Zhengzhu, a first-class inspector of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that the tourism resources of Guangxi and Chongqing are highly complementary. In recent years, the cultural tourism exchanges and cooperation between the two places have been close and profound.

At the event, the Chongqing culture and tourism promoter highlight Chongqing tourism resources with five keywords, such as "8D magic three-dimensional city", "Three Gorges of the Yangtze River," "Wuling Scenery," "City of Hot Springs," and "Chongqing Hot Pot."

Enterprises from Liang Ping and Dazu districts and Chongqing Wuling C&T Integration Development Co., Ltd. introduced high-quality tourism routes. They presented guests with luxury cultural and tourism gift packages, such as luxury cruise tickets, hot pot experience tickets, hot spring hotel experience tickets, boutique scenic spot tickets, exquisite artistic and creative products, and featured local snacks.

In addition, the online marketing activity of Chongqing culture and tourism consumption week was officially launched at the event site, aiming to attract more tourists from home and abroad to Chongqing.

In October 2021, the Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance Conference and the Lancang-Mekong Mayor Forum on Culture and Tourism were held in Chongqing, an important milestone in the development process of the Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance.

Next, Chongqing will take advantage of the Lancang-Mekong Tourism City Cooperation Alliance's international platform and actively cooperate with all member cities. It is expected to contribute to the integrated development of the Lancang-Mekong sub-regional tourism and the construction of the Lancang-Mekong sub-regional urban tourism community.

(Wang Xu, Chen Qian, and Li Shichen, as interns, also contributed to the report.)