Xi Jinping’s thought on culture points out for the first time that innovation & breakthroughs in theoretical cultural perspectives and requirements of arrangements for cultural work both indicate the Party's confidence in history and culture has reached a new height. In-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping’s thought on culture require us to encourage positive interplay between culture and tourism, stay confident in culture, take on the cultural mission, and explore new tracks of high-quality development by integrating culture and tourism.
Tourism carries people's longing for a better life. The tourism industry is a new driving force for regional economic growth, regional employment and upgrading of industrial structure. On July 24 this year, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee proposed to boost sports, leisure, cultural tourism and other services consumption. In September, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, stressed during a visit to Heilongjiang that the development of tourism was an important focus to promote high-quality development. Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued Several Measures on Releasing the Potential of Tourism Consumption to Promote High-quality Development of Tourism (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”). This is a key move to boost tourism consumption and promote the high-quality development of tourism.
While the tourism market is increasingly booming, the reception capacity of some places and enterprises seems insufficient, and it is hard for tourists to obtain tickets to many popular scenic spots and museums. So it is of great importance to focus on solving problems that have long hindered the high-quality development of tourism. We should focus on solving the problems of staff shortage and recruitment difficulties of small and micro tourism enterprises and travel agencies, continue to implement and improve related relief policies, boost confidence of the industry, restore the tourism industry and service chain, and guide enterprises to provide themed, customized, refined and specialized products and services based on needs of tourists, especially the new generation of consumer groups.
Under the new situation, transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry is accelerating, and the consumer demand, with a new trend of high quality and diversification, is calling for a higher level of service quality management. In terms of expanding the supply of leisure and vacation products, the "Measures" propose that urban leisure space be expanded and a number of national tourism and leisure blocks be established. Efforts will be made to build national-level tourism resorts like coasts, mountain forests, rivers and lakes, hot springs, snow and ice. In terms of the integrated development of cultural industry and tourism industry, there have been new business formats such as rural heritage hotels, characteristic homestays, night economy and time-honored traditional skills experience.
The Chinese-style modernization is a result of coordination between material civilization and spiritual civilization. Tourism industry is a leading and important part of the service industry. Nowadays, its social attribute and role in cultural construction and civilization are becoming increasingly evident. Zheng Chongxuan, deputy director of the Institute of Literature of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, tells us that China's tourism market has a vast space, and it is necessary to focus on the fundamental objective of better meeting people's growing needs for a better life and shoulder the new cultural mission under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s thought on culture, in order to improve China's cultural soft power and competitiveness, boost cultural prosperity and build up China’s cultural strength.
Published on Nov. 2, 2023