Chinese, US officials encourage exchanges for tourism recovery

While the global tourism industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials from China and the US call on both peoples to strengthen exchanges with each other for tourism recovery in the post-pandemic era.

"Tourism, hospitality, and the cultural exchanges between China and the US are the foundation for mutual understanding and correct perceptions of the two peoples," said Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang, at a forum on US-China tourism, hospitality and cultural exchanges held by the US-Asia Institute from Wednesday to Thursday.

To help the American tourism industry catch up with the changes happening in the Chinese society, since they are not able to visit China in person due to the pandemic, Qin shared a few buzzwords covering pop culture and government policies with the audience and explained the meanings and historical background behind them.

For instance, the phrase "people first, life first" stemmed from China's fight against the pandemic, but it is rooted in Chinese history and reflects a deep concern for humanity over 2,000 years ago, said Qin.

"The buzzwords I share with you today reflect the changing and unchanging elements in our values, when China experiences rapid economic growth and profound social transformation," he said.

Before the tourism market has fully recovered, Qin encouraged American people to take advantage of the 3D virtual tour to visit the Palace Museum, various food blogs to try Chinese cuisine, and interactive learning apps to practice Chinese language skills.

"Although the pandemic has put tourism and people-to-people exchanges on hold, the willingness of the two peoples to strengthen exchanges remains unchanged," said Zhang Xu, China's vice minister of culture and tourism, who virtually attended the forum on Wednesday.

Despite the challenges caused by the pandemic, Shanghai Disneyland was the first Disney resort in the world to reopen after the pandemic, and it has seen an outstanding performance and been looking to expand with a new theme park, said Zhang, citing the theme park's president Jose Schott during their meeting a few months ago.

"On Sept 20, Universal Beijing Resort officially opened, and its tickets were sold out within a minute on the first day. This resort is expected to attract 12 million visitors per day," said Zhang. "These are two powerful examples to prove the strength and potential of China-US people-to-people ties," he said.

China has seen steady recovery for the travel industry, said Zhang. In the first half of 2021, the total number of domestic visits made by Chinese tourists reached 1.87 billion, more than 60 percent of the same period in 2019; in the past Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the number of domestic visits reached 88.2 million, 87 percent of the 2019 level, according to Zhang.

"As the largest developing country and the largest developed country, China and the US both boast cultural richness and huge potential for tourism. The two peoples have a strong desire for mutually beneficial exchanges," he said.

US Congresswoman of Nevada agreed that people-to-people exchanges are "very valuable" in strengthening trust and productive engagement between the US and China, when there are "a few disagreements on things" that the two countries are "not quite on the same page with".

"Ignorance is often an enemy," said Titus, "We do often equate people's attitudes towards each other with people's attitudes towards governments."

Using the example of the "Ugly American", a stereotype depicting Americans as loud, rude and arrogant when traveling abroad, Titus said, "You get there, you don't find that's the case at all, and you have good personal relations. And that was certainly true in China."

During her trips to China, she said she saw "absolutely fascinating things - historical and natural - that the country had to offer and ate incredible food". "There's no substitute for sitting down, looking somebody in the eye, and breaking bread with them," she said.