First ASEAN-China Center to be located outside of Beijing also unveiled in capital of Guizhou province.

The opening ceremony of 2018 ASEAN "the Belt and Road" Tourism Culture Exchange Week kicked off on Sept 26 in Guiyang, Guizhou's capital, attracting more than 300 delegates from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' governments, embassies and consulates in China, business insiders from tourism and cultural enterprises and experts from international organizations.

ASEAN-Guizhou (Guiyang) Tourism Culture Promotion Center, the first such center set up by ASEAN-China Center in China outside of Beijing, was unveiled at the ceremony.

The opening ceremony of 2018 ASEAN "the Belt and Road" Tourism Culture Exchange Week kicks off on Sept 26 in Guiyang, Guizhou's capital. Photos Provided to China Daily

 

The center will function as a major platform for Guizhou province to cooperate with ASEAN members in the tourism sector, supplementing the foreign exhibition and promotion activities between the two sides.

According to the organizer, Southeast Asian countries have always been regarded as key destinations by many tourists from Guiyang. People in the city make about 84,200 visits to ASEAN countries via Guiyang travel agencies each year.

The traffic flows both ways; about 52,000 trips to Guiyang are made annually by visitors from ASEAN members, accounting for 15 percent of the total number of foreign visitors to the city.

The frequent visits are supported by the long-term cultivation of international flight routes. In recent years, Guiyang has established a busy airplane network connecting the city with East Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport has opened 21 international and regional routes to hub cities in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

"It is a major step for us to cooperate with ASEAN members under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, and it is also conductive for Guiyang to implement the opening-up policy to the outside world at an all-round level," said Chen Yan, mayor of Guiyang.

Chen Dehai, secretary-general of the ASEAN-China Center, said the exchange week event will become another new platform and starting point for tourism cooperation between the two sides, as well as closer friendships and more cooperation between ASEAN countries and the people of China, especially those in Guizhou province.

Guizhou's tourism industry is in a position to showcase its self-confidence and capacity, and the ASEAN-Guizhou (Guiyang) Tourism Culture Promotion Center is a good platform for ASEAN tourists to learn more about Guizhou and experience better services, said Zhu Xi, director of the travel agency branch of Guiyang Tourism Association.

Guizhou province is located in the Southwest of China. As it connects South China and Central China, the people living on the land preserve the lively culture of various ethnic groups and the relics generated in China's various historical stages.

In recent years, relying on abundant tourism resources, Guizhou has been promoting the local tourism economy, striving to polish the local tourism brand as China's "park province". And a modern transportation network system integrating Guiyang's highways, railways, bullet trains and aviation routes has been taking shape.

As a tourist transiting center in Guizhou, Guiyang has also attracted a number of high-profile star hotels, travel agencies and tourist convoys, shopping malls, restaurants and recreational facilities.

The promotion week, which ran through Sept 25 to 30, was co-sponsored by ASEAN-China Center, the Guiyang city government and the Guizhou Tourism Development Committee. In the future, Guiyang plans to launch a group of tourism promotion centers in Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

Jiaxiu Pavilion, in southern Guiyang, has been a symbol of the city for 400 years, bearing witness to its history and development.