Sichuan Int'l Cultural Tourism Fest. kicks off

With the theme of "Beautiful China?Jianmen Shu Path," 2014 Sichuan International Cultural Tourism Festival kicked off in Guangyuan Jianmen Pass Scenic Area on June 26. Sichuan showed the world its tourism strength and intended to strengthen tourism exchange and cooperation.

Wang Qizhang, Deputy Secretary-General of Sichuan Provincial People's Government, presides over the opening ceremony, with the presence of Du Jiang, Deputy Director-General from the China National Tourism Administration, Zhong Mian, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor, Francesco Frangialli, Honorary Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Mario Hardy, COO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Hao Kangli, Director General of the Tourism Administration of Sichuan Province, Ma Hua, Secretary of the CPC Guangyuan Municipal Committee, and Wang Fei, Mayor of Guangyuan City. Besides, more than 250 representatives of travel agencies and media from nearly 20 foreign countries and regions, consular officials in Sichuan, representatives of tourist offices and chambers of commerce, and domestic journalists also attended the opening ceremony.

This event aims to promote new tourist routes and products with Sichuan cultural diversity and characteristics, especially Jianmen Shu Path-Three Kingdoms cultural tourist route. It also serves to create a tourist destination in northern region in Sichuan and strength tourism growth in the area in order to further enhance cultural tourism brand of Sichuan. By focusing on ecological and cultural characteristics, some new sightseeing and vacationing-based tourist products have been developed and promoted with an emphasis on the four international tourism brands, namely panda, Great Jiuzhai Valley, prairie and Shangri-La, so as to strength soft power of the province and strive for realizing the goal of being a powerful province in tourism economy and a world-renowned tourist destination. On the opening ceremony, Guangyuan was awarded the plaque bearing "Sichuan Tourist Product Demonstration Base". Jianmenguan Town and Zhaohua Ancient City were awarded the plaque of "Tourist Product Development Demonstration Base of Sichuan Characteristics". The Signing Ceremony for Sichuan Tourism Investment Promotion Project and Guangyuan Tourist Product Trading were also held, with 34 tourism promotion projects with a total investment of 86.48 billion yuan were signed by cities and investors or strategic partners. Some of the cities include Chengdu, Guangyuan, Panzhihua, Guang'an, Yibin, Meishan, Ziyang. After the opening ceremony, guests invited to participate in the tourism festival will visit Jianmen Pass, Cuiyun Corridor, Zhaohua Ancient City, and representatives of overseas travel agencies and media will also experience boutique travel routes in Sichuan.