Hongze Lake Wetland (CFP Photo)
Despite the disruptions brought by the COVID-19 in 2020, Jiangsu made great strides in culture and tourism development on many fronts, according to the provincial work conference on January 24.
Jiangsu received 473 million domestic and foreign tourists in last year and achieved a tourism revenue of 825.059 billion yuan, reaching 53.7% and 57.6% of the level in 2019 respectively, 5.9 and 19.6 percentage points higher than the national recovery rate.
In last year, the coastal province also took the national lead in winning top awards and honors in recognition of its culture and tourism development.
Jiangsu added five tourism demonstration zones that integrate tourism resources for comprehensive development of the industry, namely Jinhu County in Huai’an City, Yixing City, Wuzhong District in Suzhou City, Liyang City and Dafeng District in Yancheng, bringing the total number of such winners to 8. The province ranked first in China, alongside Shandong, Zhejiang, Hubei and Sichuan provinces.
Jiangsu also had 26 more villages named on the second list of key tourism destinations in the country's rural areas, bringing the total number of such winning villages to 39, second highest in China.
With seven state-level resorts, including the latest addition of Taihu Bay in Changzhou, the province and Zhejiang were tied for the first place in the country. Jiangsu took the top spot with 25 tourist attractions in 5A category, the highest level in the rating system.
Nanjing and Suzhou were among the first batch of 15 Chinese cities designated as role models in pioneering cultural and tourism consumption initiatives.
The province has also made progress in cultural heritage protection and development. Jiangsu became home to 13 national first-class museums, the second highest in China, after adding six winners of the recognition - Nanjing Imperial Examination Museum of China, Yuhuatai Martyrs Memorial Hall, and four museums in Wuxi, Xuzhou, Changshu and Zhenjiang.
The province also increased the number of national intangible cultural heritage items to 162, 16 more than in 2019.
On the front of digital transformation of tourism, Jingang Technology, a provider of high-tech cultural experiences, was also selected as one of the 12 national cultural and tourism technology innovation projects.
