Silk Road International Cultural Expo helps boost tourism revenue

Gansu province in Northwest China will showcase its "gold card" to the world by hosting the Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo in September.

The sixth expo will take place in the city of Dunhuang on Wednesday and Thursday, helping to build a new image of the province. The event is themed on international cultural communication related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

After years of careful cultivation and successful events, the Dunhuang expo has achieved a series of economic and cultural achievements while becoming an important"Chinese brand" international event to promote the splendid culture of the Silk Road and Gansu's opening-up.

Dancers of Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed, a drama, perform in June in Dunhuang, Gansu province. ZHANG XIAOLIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY

The Gansu Department of Culture and Tourism attaches great importance to publicity in creating the expo's ambience and making more people aware of the event. How to transform superior resources into development momentum and advance the blossoming of the cultural tourism industry are primary goals for Gansu, and over the first eight months of this year, the province focused on the implementation of 568 cultural tourism projects and related investment exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.37 billion).

As an example for inheriting culture and driving tourism, Dunhuang is important to Chinese culture and to tourism throughout the province. This year, Jiuquan city, where Dunhuang is located, has been firmly committed to promoting its cultural tourism brand and centering on the development of a cultural tourism economic circle.

As a leading city in the province in terms of cultural tourism, Jiuquan has promoted the completion and operation of 14 projects in recent years, including the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center study tour project and Dunhuang Book Center. It has also started the construction of delayed projects, including improvement of the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic area.

During the peak season from May to August this year, tourists from across China flocked to Dunhuang to visit Mogao Grottoes, the Yangguan Pass and also the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic area. In the first half of this year, Jiuquan received 16.25 million visits and earned 11.68 billion yuan in tourism revenue.

A dancer holds up a pipa, a four-stringed Chinese lute, at the classic dance show, Flower Rains Along the Silk Road. CHINA DAILY

Taking cultural tourism as its primary industry and focusing on projects, Jiuquan has joined a development consensus among 14 cities and prefectures in Gansu.

Meanwhile, the Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture has taken aim at connecting poverty alleviation to rural vitalization. It invested 1.78 billion yuan to carefully construct a 286-kilometer tourism corridor along the Taizi Mountain over seven years. The corridor connects more than 100 scenic areas in four counties - Jishishan, Linxia, Hezheng and Kangle - and has become an immensely popular leisure-route destination for tourists.

"We have utilized completion of the Taizi Mountain tourism corridor to hold events such as this year's China Huaer Conference, resulting in a significant increase in the number of tourists and overall tourism revenue," said Ma Dexiang, director at the Linxia prefecture culture, radio and television and tourism bureau.

Gansu is known as one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization, a museum of natural wonders, a grand garden of ethnic customs and a destination for quality innovative tourism. As an example, the Zhangye Colorful Danxia Scenic Spot recently launched a hotair balloon activity that saw 40 pilots offering six flight performances in three days, adding new attraction to the scenic spot.

Many operators of cultural tourism attractions in Gansu believe the traditional tourism model, with its focus on sightseeing, has fallen short of meeting people's

growing demands for cultural tourism travel.

As a result, immersive performances supported by new technologies and new business models are being widely introduced into the cultural tourism field of Gansu.

Jiuquan city has carefully cultivated four shows, which have been performed more than 1,000 times. Visiting Mogao Grottoes during the day and enjoying the performances at night has become an example of integrating culture and tourism.

A cultural tourism company in Zhangye city recently launched immersive themed performances in the beautiful and tranquil water area of Lushuiwan Holiday Resort, involving opera, dance, intangible cultural heritage and special audiovisual effects.

Gansu's culture and tourism department has also combined traditional culture and modern science and technology, and is cooperating with other regions and organizations to help local cultural tourism thrive.