Eighteen key cultural tourism projects are signed at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Shandong High-Quality Cultural and Tourism Industry Development Conference on April 25. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

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 industry, said Zhou Naixiang, governor of Shandong during his speech at the opening ceremony.

In 2023, Shandong welcomed more than 820 million tourists, generating tourism revenue topping 970 billion yuan ($133.98 billion) and the value-added of the cultural and tourism industry saw solid growth of 11.9 percent.

As one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization, Shandong is rich in historical and cultural resources and natural scenery, said Li Qun, deputy minister of the Ministry 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.

A night view of Langya Ancient City, the host venue for opening ceremony of the 2024 Shandong High-Quality Cultural and Tourism Industry Development Conference. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The two-day event includes an opening ceremony, a cultural relics themed tourism conference, the Shandong International Travel Operators Conference and a cultural tourism project promotional conference.

At the opening ceremony, 18 key cultural tourism projects were signed, to serve the high-quality development of cultural tourism industry.

Ten major cultural heritage tourism routes were launched during the event, with the aim of leveraging cultural relics to revitalize cultural resources and promote the deep integration of culture and tourism.

These routes, featuring cultural relics related to Yellow River, the Grand Canal, the Great Wall of ancient Qi state, ancient architectures and Confucius culture, involve 232 cultural heritage sites across 16 cities in Shandong.

Sixteen measures were released at the Shandong International Travel Operators Conference as a result of the joint efforts of 14 departments, including the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, to accelerate the high-quality development of inbound tourism.

Inbound tourism is of great importance in elevating the tourism sector, driving economic growth and consumption and promoting the opening to the outside world, said Deng Yunfeng, vice-governor of Shandong.

Under these measures, more effort will be made in optimizing visa and customs clearance policies, developing more inbound tourism product routes and improving inbound payments methods.