The 5th Grand Canal Culture and Tourism Expo will open in Suzhou City from September 21 to 24, according to a press conference held in Nanjing on September 4.

The expo will feature 17 programs, including night tours of Baodai Bridge (Precious Belt Bridge) and Jinji Lake (Golden Roster Lake), exhibitions and forums.

The Baodai Bridge (Precious Belt Bridge) of Suzhou City (CFP Photo)

The opening ceremony will include local opera performances, selected from eight provinces and municipalities along the canal, and performed by 15 renowned artists.

The exhibitions will focus on the themes from tourism to intangible cultural heritage and food. Visitor can discover new equipment, immersive cultural and tourism products, and highlights in rural accommodation in the exhibition area.

In addition, organizations and enterprises from countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and other regions have been invited to attend the exhibition. There are also exhibition spaces dedicated to the 2023 China-Spain Year of Culture and Tourism.

Forums will focus on the conservation and inheritance of Grand Canal heritage, cultural and tourism spending, and investment. The province plans to release a white paper on its cultural and tourism consumption for 2021-2022 and the 2023 ranking of top consumption destinations.

This year’s event will strengthen the application of new technologies such as Big Data, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. A metaverse experience zone will feature digital replicas of the natural scenery, historical buildings and cultural heritage along the Grand Canal.

Since its inauguration in 2019, the expo has been hosted by Yangzhou, Wuxi, and Suzhou for four sessions, attracting a total of 476,000 on-site visitors.

More than a platform for culture and tourism promotion, the event also advances the Grand Canal National Cultural Park initiative and enhances the recognition of the ancient waterway system’s legacies, both domestically and internationally.