Zhangjiajie to host first Hunan tourism development conference

Zhangjiajie City was selected to host the first Hunan Tourism Development Conference, according to a press conference held on March 19. Zhangjiajie stood out from 13 cities and one prefecture of the province in the selection due to its advantages such as unique resources, brands, products, services, and driving role. Zhangjiajie’s Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Area was inscribed on UNESCO's World Natural Heritage List. The city plays a leading role in all-for-one tourism in Hunan Province.

Holding the provincial tourism development conference annually is a major strategic decision made by the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and the Hunan Provincial People’s Government and a major opportunity to promote high-quality development of Hunan's tourism industry. At the press conference, Li Aiwu, director of the Office of the Organizing Committee of the Hunan Tourism Development Conference, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, secretary of the leading Party member’s group and director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said that the conference is initially scheduled to be held in late June. The conference will integrate resources and promote the upgrading of the conference venue in tourism industry, ecological restoration, human settlements, service facilities, cultural and economic exchanges, and spiritual civilization construction, so as to achieve the result of "holding in one place and linking the whole province". In view of the common problems faced by the tourism industry in transformation development, especially difficulties brought about by COVID-19 to the tourism industry, Hunan Province is accelerating in formulating two policy support packages to support the development of the tourism industry in the host region and pace up the development of the tourism industry in the whole province. More practical and useful policies are expected to be issued.

"Zhangjiajie City has the determination to hold the conference well," said Liu Ge'an, secretary of the CPC Zhangjiajie Municipal Committee, introducing that at present, Zhangjiajie has formulated the "Work Plan for Hosting the First Hunan Provincial Tourism Development Conference", established a conference executive committee, and eleven working groups responsible for comprehensive coordination, publicity planning, project funding, and epidemic prevention and control. Related work has been fully rolled out.

In order to assist in the opening of the conference, Zhangjiajie will hold nearly 30 international and domestic "tourism +" and "+ tourism" activities from March to the end of 2022. The Zhangjiajie Municipal People’s Government has allocated 200 million yuan of financial supporting funds, and launched ten policies and measures to support the recovery and development of tourism market entities, such as increasing financial assistance to enterprises and reducing tax and fee burden of tourism market entities. A series of policy documents will be issued to support tourism industry development, accelerate smart tourism construction, and improve tourism promotion and marketing, and introduce a reward mechanism for airlines. This will ensure that the conference will play a significant role in driving the tourism industry development.