On September 15, 2025, Dai Bin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and President of the China Tourism Research Institute, published a signed article titled "Towards a Deeper, Wider, and Higher Level of Cultural and Tourism Integration - New Achievements in the Development of Cultural and Tourism Integration in China during the 14th Five Year Plan Period" in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference magazine. The article points out that the integration of culture and tourism has formed a broad social consensus, which is the only way for the tourism industry to move from tradition to modernity, and also an important driving force for the creative inheritance and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture. The full text is shared as follows: The integration of culture and tourism is the only way for the tourism industry to move from tradition to modernity, and it is also an important driving force for the creative inheritance and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture.

Reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles has been a fine tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times. Whether it is value orientation or social practice, culture and tourism have always been closely integrated rather than separated from each other. People appreciate the beauty of nature, culture, and cultivate their souls during their travels. In the late 1970s, China opened the curtain of modern tourism industry in the sense of marketization. The theoretical circle successively proposed the views of "culture is the soul of tourism", "entering from the economy, exiting from culture", "tourism is an economic undertaking with strong cultural characteristics, and also a cultural undertaking with strong economic characteristics", "tourism is an economic cultural industry at a certain stage of development, and a cultural economic industry at a mature stage of development", etc. In April 2018, the country established the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to coordinate the development of cultural undertakings, cultural industries, and tourism, adhering to the guiding ideology of "shaping tourism with culture and promoting culture with tourism", and clarifying the work policy of "integrating where appropriate and integrating as much as possible". The deep integration of culture and tourism has entered the fast lane of development.

On August 21, tourists experienced intangible cultural heritage fish lanterns in Chengkan Village, Huizhou District, Mount Huangshan City. The summer tourism market is booming, and tourists' travel experience has been improved, bringing new vitality to the tourism market. (Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Mu/photo)

Xi Jinping's cultural ideology and General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discourse on the tourism industry have pointed out the development direction and practical path of cultural tourism integration. Cultural confidence is the most fundamental, profound, and enduring force in the development of a country or a nation. To bring to life the cultural relics collected in the Forbidden Palace, the heritage displayed on the vast land, and the words written in ancient books. We need to deepen the reform of the cultural system and promote the deep integration and development of culture and tourism. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discourse on tourism work has outlined a development blueprint for the integration of culture and tourism, and clarified the practical path for the integration of culture and tourism. Adhere to upholding integrity, innovation, improving quality and efficiency, and integrating development, coordinate government and market, supply and demand, protection and development, domestic and international, development and security, focus on improving the modern tourism industry system, and accelerate the construction of a strong tourism country.

The integrated development of culture and tourism has formed a broad social consensus, and under the joint action of central policies and development plans, it is becoming a powerful spiritual driving force to promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry. The integration of culture and tourism is the inevitable path for the tourism industry to move from tradition to modernity, and it is also an important driving force for the creative inheritance and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture. The integration of culture and tourism requires both ideological guidance and policy promotion. The 14th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the 2035 Long Range Objectives Outline, as well as the 14th Five Year Plan for Tourism Development, both regard the integration of culture and tourism as an important development task. The State Council and relevant departments have successively issued policy documents on the construction of national cultural parks, the construction of demonstration zones for the integrated development of national cultural and tourism industries, the deep integration of intangible cultural heritage and tourism development, the construction of Chinese cultural relics theme trails, the healthy development of travel agencies' study tour business, and the promotion of cultural and tourism consumption. The top-level design and policy innovation of the integration of culture and tourism by the Party and the state have consolidated the social consensus of integrated development and formed the spiritual driving force for high-quality development. The spirit of scholars' study and the journey of their families and the world have become prominent labels for the integration of culture and tourism among young people. The study tour press conference in Shaoxing, the science and technology innovation study camp in Hefei, and the national camp plan in Macau are becoming theoretical and practical innovation sites for the integration of culture and tourism.

Local party committees and governments attach great importance to the integrated development of culture and tourism, and have formed a new pattern of joint management by the party and the government, a new situation of widespread participation from all sectors of society, and new achievements in the continuous improvement of enterprise competitiveness and tourist satisfaction. In the past five years, party committees and governments at all levels have successively held tourism development conferences, issued local regulations, policy documents, and special plans, providing rich local cases and practical samples for promoting the deep integration of culture and tourism development and building a strong tourism country. On March 25, 2023, the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Shandong Provincial People's Government issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Deep Integration of Culture and Tourism and Promoting the High quality Development of the Tourism Industry", proposing the goal and development indicators of building a strong cultural and tourism province. On June 17, 2025, the 7th Plenary Session of the 12th Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China made a decision on promoting the deep integration of culture and tourism development, and expanding and strengthening the cultural tourism industry, proposing the direction of "culture as the soul, tourism as the body, technology empowerment, and protection priority". On June 10, 2025, the Propaganda Department of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and the departments of culture, tourism, and cultural relics jointly released the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of National Heritage Routes in the Hexi Corridor", proposing the goal of comprehensively building the "Five Models" of the Hexi Corridor National Heritage Routes. The construction of the Yangtze River and Yellow River cultural tourism belts is progressing in an orderly manner, and Sichuan Chongqing is working together to build the Bashu cultural tourism corridor. The Palace Museum has comprehensively promoted the construction of four major visions: an international first-class museum, a model for the protection of world cultural heritage, a leader in the integration of culture and tourism, and a Chinese cultural reception room for cultural exchange and mutual learning. It has become a typical example of the integrated development of culture and tourism. The series of tourism performances such as "Impression", "Re seeing", "Only", large-scale live performances such as "Song of Everlasting Regret", as well as concerts, concerts, and museums have become the core attractions of tourist destinations. The alliance between Xiangyuan Culture and Tourism and Haichang Ocean Park has reshaped the competition in the tourism market and a new pattern of cultural industry development. Investment institutions, tourism groups, and various business entities are steadily introducing new quality productivity and new driving forces of humanistic economy, promoting the integration and development of culture and tourism to a deeper, wider, and higher level.

The integration of culture and tourism has broad prospects, and we must truly build the cultural tourism industry into a pillar industry, a livelihood industry, and a happiness industry. In the face of the new situation and tasks in the development of the tourism industry during the 15th Five Year Plan period, it is necessary to carry out applied research and data analysis around key hot and difficult issues, as well as strengthen basic theoretical research, especially the theoretical interpretation and systematic research on the significance, theoretical value, and development achievements of the integration of culture and tourism. We should conduct systematic and in-depth local investigations and policy research on the theoretical connotation, indicator system, international comparison, and institutional mechanism reform of pillar industries, livelihood industries, and happiness industries, and provide reliable and practical theoretical achievements and think tank support for tourism work and industry development. We need to mobilize all the efforts of the national academic community and theoretical circles to strengthen the theoretical interpretation, system construction, and practical transformation of the original concept of cultural tourism integration. On the basis of summarizing the achievements and experiences of cultural tourism integration, we aim to build the cultural tourism industry into a pillar industry, a livelihood industry, and a happiness industry. Focus on promoting diversified, personalized and quality-oriented contemporary tourism needs, especially the integration of the individual tourist market with the advanced socialist culture that carries the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and people's happiness. In the process of Chinese path to modernization with the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization, consciously implement the global civilization initiative, and lead the creation of modern civilization with common values. To promote the international dissemination of tourism theory in the new era, we will focus on strengthening the theoretical interpretation of original and iconic concepts in the integration of culture and tourism. We will strive to build a tourism discipline system, academic system, and discourse system with Chinese characteristics, and tell the story of China's integration of culture and tourism to the outside world.

Author | Dai Bin

Editor in Chief | Liu Xin

Source | Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Issue 18, 2025

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