The press conference also featured two roundtables.

At the first roundtable, experts envisioned the trends in the cultural and tourism industries and discussed how to deepen the integration of culture and tourism.

According to the speakers, the integration between culture and tourism is not only a national policy, but also a growing need backed by the consumption upgrade in China. Yet, it may take some time to achieve a deep integration of the two industries and haste should not be pursued during the process. Some experts also emphasized that as rural tourism and leisure agriculture grow in popularity, it is important to enhance the local residents’ sense of gain while developing tourism. Other experts pointed out the necessity of establishing national demonstration zones for integrated development of culture and tourism.

At the other roundtable, representatives from tech firms, which are committed to empowering the cultural and tourism sectors, shared their insights and talked about the new opportunities in the two industries.

A speaker from Tencent Research Institute said cultural and tourism businesses and organizations should make better use of digital channels, such as social platforms, because, as the last three years have proven, digitization holds the key for them to stay afloat amid uncertainties. A representative from Xiaohongshu, a major lifestyle social media platform, observed that hobby-oriented tourism has become a trend among young people and travel suppliers should come up with quality products to satisfy this growing demand.