On Feb 19, “2011 Chinese Culture Tour in Anhui” and the 8th annual China Global Tours Forum was held in Hefei, capital city of Anhui province. Attending the opening ceremony were: Zhu Xianfa, vice-director of the standing committee of the People’s Congress of Anhui province; Hua Jianhui, vice-governor of the province, and Li Weihua, vice-president of the provincial CCPCC. Leaders, who addressed more than 1,000 guests, included: Hu Xuefan, director of the provincial tourism administration; Xiang Xianjun, vice-general-secretary of the Hefei municipal government; Sang Fubing, director of the Heifei tourism administration, and Xu Huayu, CEO of Anhui Global Tours Co Ltd (AGT).

Hu’s keynote speech focused on promoting Anhui culture and ways to explore innovative development of local cultural tourism. He also introduced Anhui’s cultural resources from ten aspects: landscape, humanities, history, customs, technologies, religions, food, architecture, arts and the Communist revolution. The director also emphasized that while pursuing profits was important, so was the protection and promotion of local cultural heritage.

Xiang of the Hefei municipal government said the annual forum played a positive role in facilitating local tourism. He added that in 2010, Hefei made great progress in accelerating project approval procedures, advancing marketing, and speeding up industrial transformation and improvements. With improved infrastructure and new products, he said, tourism in Hefei was ready to enter a new boom.

Xu of AGT said that AGT would reward tourists with trustworthy and quality products while striving to be a leading brand in the national tourism industry.

The National Tourism Administration of PRC announced 2011 as “Year of the Chinese Culture Tour” in an effort to promote Chinese culture and to integrate tourism and cultural industries. The three-day forum in Anhui represented the beginning of a series of local efforts responding to national tourism and culture policies. The theme was “Anhui Culture Enriches Tourism”. Representatives of travel agencies from 31 provinces and foreign countries, including Korea, Japan and Thailand, discuss topics such as innovation, marketing, diversification, tourism management challenges and partnerships with airlines.

By Shi Qian and Audrey