Ningde City Conference on Cultural Tourism Economy 2025 Convened

The 2025 Ningde Conference on Cultural and Tourism Economy opened on the morning of September 20 in Ningde, Fujian Province. Zhang Yongning, Secretary of the CPC Ningde Municipal Committee, attended the conference and delivered a speech. Pan Guoqiang, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Committee and Mayor of Ningde, presided over the event.

The conference comprised a diverse program, including expert presentations, product launches, project signings, think tank initiatives, thematic promotions, and long-term planning. It highlighted the interim outcomes of Ningde’s cultural-tourism integration and industrial innovation, and unveiled Ningde’s cultural tourism slogan, themed travel routes, and a series of consumption-driven activities. Key highlights included the release of the Ningde “Food Map,” the “Mountain-Sea-City” sports event system, and the Lakeside Market·Ningde Donghu Zero-Carbon Lifestyle Season as immersive new experiences. New products such as the “Light of Eastern Fujian” cruise and the co-branded Cotti Coffee × Ningde cultural-tourism edition were also introduced. At the same time, flagship events such as the Global Drone Photography Contest and the Ningde Cultural and Creative Product Competition were launched. In addition, a number of major cultural tourism projects were signed, covering areas such as strategic platform cooperation, cultural tourism complexes, boutique accommodations, film and television services, and maritime transport. Collectively, these initiatives will inject powerful momentum into the high-quality development of Ningde’s cultural tourism economy.

Peter Semone, Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association and Head of the UNWTO project team “Fujian as a World-Renowned Tourism Destination: Goals, Vision and Action Plan”, Alireza Amrikazemi, Member of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, Adolf Kessel, Mayor of Worms, Germany, and Ding Yonghao, Mayor of Sibu, Malaysia, along with several other international partners, sent congratulatory video messages to the conference. Representatives from 20 overseas Chinese-language media outlets produced a video compilation to extend best wishes for the success of the Cultural Tourism Economy Development Conference and, in multiple languages, extended a warm invitation to “Visit Ningde.” The conference brought together more than 300 participants, including officials from relevant departments of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and the Fujian Provincial Radio and Television Bureau; leaders of Ningde City; leading domestic experts and scholars in cultural tourism; representatives of top cultural tourism enterprises; provincial and municipal key cultural tourism enterprises and art troupes; the World Tourism Alliance; national and provincial tourism associations; tourism industry associations and travel agencies from key source markets; journalists from central, provincial, and municipal media; representatives of new media and foreign travel bloggers; as well as digital nomads and homestay operators.

During the conference, supporting events such as a cultural tourism investment promotion and matchmaking session and field visits were also held.

According to an official from the Ningde Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the conference will be used as an opportunity to advance the goal of building Ningde into a nationally renowned mountain-and-sea leisure tourism destination. Guided by the principle of “one core,” with the central city serving as the driver, Ningde will focus on developing its signature resources—including the CATL super IP, Donghu Lake, Sandu Island, Huotong Creek, and historic and cultural districts—striving to establish the city as a hub for tourism services and distribution. At the same time, efforts will be made to promote the “two belts,” namely the Mountain World Geopark Innovation Belt and the Coastal Cultural Tourism Innovation Belt, so that visitors can experience both mountain views and sea landscapes without leaving Ningde. In addition, the “three bays” strategy will be reinforced by linking Sandu’ao Bay, Funing Bay, and Shacheng Bay to shape Ningde into an emerging coastal tourism destination along China’s southeast shoreline.

Ningde is a city where mountains, the sea, the port, and the urban landscape converge, hailed by Chinese National Geography as “the most beautiful place in China.” The city is home to 86 A-level tourist attractions; 12 nationally protected cultural heritage sites comprising 29 designated locations; 86 provincially protected sites with 145 locations; and 550 county-level protected sites. Ningde also features 4 UNESCO-recognized intangible cultural heritage items, along with 23 at the national level, 84 at the provincial level, and 224 at the municipal level. In addition, the city has 19 nationally designated historic and cultural towns (or villages) and 155 traditional Chinese villages.

Since 2024, Ningde has been advancing the integration of culture and tourism—using culture to shape tourism and tourism to highlight culture—resulting in a flourishing all-for-one tourism landscape across the region. In 2024, the city welcomed more than 70 million visitors, up 14.8 percent year-on-year, with total tourist spending reaching about RMB 70 billion, a 19.7 percent increase—both marking record highs. In June 2025, the National County Tourism Research Project Team, together with the Huaxia Baiqiang Tourism Consulting Center, released the National County Tourism Research Report 2025, which listed Fuding City, Pingnan County, and Fu’an City among the “Top 100 Fastest-Growing Counties in Tourism Nationwide,” while Xiapu County was named a “National Benchmark County for Self-Drive Tourism.” That same month, Tuniu Travel issued its 2025 Dragon Boat Festival Travel Consumption Report, ranking Ningde among the “Top 10 Destinations Nationwide with the Fastest Rising Popularity.” Data from Ctrip showed that in the first half of 2025, the number of online visitors to Ningde rose by 13.34 percent year-on-year, while online tourism spending climbed 13.7 percent. Tuniu data further revealed that during the same period, total sales of all-category tourism product orders in Ningde grew by 16.66 percent, the number of travelers increased by 15.87 percent, and total order volume was up 9.08 percent compared with the previous year.

To further boost cultural and tourism consumption, Ningde has introduced the Six Measures to Promote Cultural and Tourism Consumption in Ningde, the Subsidy Program for Renovating Old Houses into Homestays in Ningde, as well as supportive policies for the performing arts economy. More than RMB 1 million in incentives have been granted to travel agencies, self-media operators, and visiting tourists, igniting a new wave of cultural and tourism consumption.

(Written by Zhou Junyin)