Yicai:
The domestic cultural and tourism market has been recovering rapidly this year, and people have a strong desire to travel. What measures has the MCT taken to meet the strong travel demand of the people? Thank you.
Du Jiang:
The entire tourism market has entered a fast track to recovery and development since the beginning of this year. The MCT has continued to improve the quality of tourism products and innovated the supply of tourism products. We have strengthened supply-demand matchmaking and stimulated consumption potential in order to meet people's demand for diversified and high-quality travel needs and boost expanding domestic demand.
First, we have strengthened the implementation of policies and planning so as to provide a sound policy foundation for high-quality supply. We have implemented the development plan for the tourism sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the Outline for National Tourism and Leisure Development (2022-2030), and the document on further unleashing the potential of tourism consumption and facilitating the high-quality development of tourism. We have worked with relevant ministries and commissions to jointly issue a series of policies and documents, such as the tourism development plan for northeast China, the plan to boost the integrated development of public transport services and tourism in urban and rural areas, the plan to promote the coordinated and innovative development of 5G plus smart tourism, and the plan for promoting the high-quality development of rural tourism with more financial support. Moreover, we have also made great efforts to advance the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou sports, cultural, and tourism belt in a coordinated way.
Second, we have made great efforts to improve the quality of tourism products in a bid to meet people's tourism demands with high-quality supply. We have improved the product ranges of "urban leisure" and "rural vacation" and promoted the balanced development of sightseeing tourism and leisure vacations through initiatives such as brand establishment, standard review, and pilot demonstrations. There are 14,900 A-level scenic areas, more than 700 national- and provincial-level tourist resorts, 111 national-level blocks serving tourism and leisure, 243 national-level night cultural and tourism consumption clusters, 142 national tourism demonstration industrial parks, and 1,597 key villages and towns for rural tourism across the country. Moreover, eight key villages and towns, such as Yucun village in Zhejiang province, as Mr. Lu mentioned previously, have been named the best tourism villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. In addition, solid gains have been made in pilot projects to promote the integrated development of red tourism.
Third, we have made great efforts to ensure the supply of products in an innovative way, creating tourism demand with a new type of supply. We developed new tourism products and business forms featuring camping, ice and snow, and sports, as well as maritime tourism and art performances, establishing seven national-level ski resorts, 22 national 5C- and 4C-level self-drive campsites – the third batch of its kind – and 13 national-level demonstration bases for sports tourism, as well as 24 pilot programs to establish smart tourism sites, providing immersive experience services and 40 high-quality programs for art performances. We also unveiled a variety of themed tourist routes, including 10 national-level Yangtze River-themed routes, 10 routes for self-driving tourists in China, over 400 rural tourism routes, and "Reading Li Bai and Traveling across China" themed tourist routes, as well as themed tourist routes centered around Chinese tea culture and more. We organized activities to ensure a diversified supply to meet the demands of consumers. The MCT has worked with five other departments, including the Ministry of Transport, to jointly unveil the first group of 46 exemplars that have bolstered the integrated development of transport and tourism, which are designed to boost the development of new products and new business forms in transport and tourism sectors. Thank you.
