Strategy mapped out for success in Guangxi

The picturesque view of Pingtian Mountain in Guigang. CHINA DAILY

Guigang, a city in the southeast of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has strengthened supply-side reforms in tourism these past few years and poured resources into all-region tourism to achieve high-quality development of the sector.

In 2020, Guigang was named a demonstration city of all-region tourism in Guangxi.

It received a total of 27 million visits from Chinese tourists last year, with tourism consumption reaching 32.3 billion yuan ($5.1 billion).

Promoting all-region tourism was an inevitable choice in order to upgrade and realize sustainable development of the tourism industry in Guigang, local officials said.

The city government has set up related leadership teams and founded a cultural and tourism investment group.

Back in August, it released opinions on the high-quality development of culture and tourism, as well as four detailed measures covering such areas as land use and hotels.

The government also mapped out an all-region tourism development plan for 2020-30, drawing up a blueprint for tourism clusters including a Xijiang River cultural belt and a core area for city tourism.

With a history of more than 2,000 years, Guigang is rich in both natural and cultural resources.

The city government has taken advantage of these to push for the integration of culture and tourism. It has highlighted cultural performances, cultural heritage protection and utilization, creative cultural product development, and rural and rehabilitation tourism.

In 2020, the city accelerated the building and renovation of a park and a museum of cultural relics, as well as three revolution-themed Red education centers.

It created 28 artworks including songs, dances and operas, which center on topics like poverty alleviation, rural revitalization, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.

Guigang has also focused on integrating tourism with sports. It built a national soccer training center and plans to establish an international soccer stadium, and organize climbing competitions, marathons and dragon-boat races.

Forests are the major part of the city's beautiful scenery. In 2018, Guigang was awarded the honorary title of "a model city of forest tourism in China" by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. Since then, the city has been making efforts to upgrade its forest parks to better protect them and aid tourism.

Moreover, Guigang has continuously improved infrastructure and tourism facilities.

Last year, the city constructed four comprehensive culture stations and 206 culture service centers.

It also invested 1.5 million yuan to build a tourism distribution center at a square in front of Guigang Railway Station.

It established or rebuilt 85 public toilets in tourist sites and developed a tourist emergency monitoring system covering all 10 national 4A-level scenic spots.