Rizhao's cultural tourism soars to new heights

Rizhao, a coastal city of Shandong province, has seen a rapid growth in its cultural and tourism industry and is now a popular destination for travelers.

Statistics show that 45 A-level tourist attractions in Rizhao received 12.98 million tourists during this year's summer holiday season which ran from June 1 to August 31, a remarkable 116.89 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The high-quality cultural and tourism offerings in Rizhao are a significant draw for visitors, said Wang Xi, director of Rizhao municipal bureau of culture and tourism.

According to Wang, the city has built coastal projects such as Dongyi town and Rizhao Ocean Park. A 28-kilometer-long greenway has been built along the sea, linking the city's 26 featured coastal attractions and offering a convenient tourism network of coastal areas and mountain resources to visitors.

Rizhao has also been making progress in developing new consumption forms related to marriage, education, and sports, having already introduced a range of marriage and romance tourism routes.

More efforts have been made to enhance the quality of rural homestays, thus improving the overall experience for tourists. From July to August this year, Rizhao housed 2.4 million tourists, an increase of 89.92 percent over the same period in 2022.

To boost tourism and local consumption, the local government has implemented 20 measures including tourism incentives, a summer cultural and tourism consumption season, and free admissions to State-owned A-level tourist attractions.

Moreover, a cultural tourism loan program was introduced in cooperation with financial institutions, providing more than 60 million yuan ($8.2 million) in loans for over 100 small and micro cultural and tourism enterprises in the city.

The city has hosted a series of cultural festive events, including an international beer carnival, a national-level solo wind music performance and a music festival, drawing a large number of tourists and driving substantial growth in tourism-related spending.

Rizhao is currently working to become a modern international coastal tourism hub, said Wang. According to the city's three-year plan (2023-25) for advancing the high-quality development of cultural tourism sector, the added value of tourism industry in Rizhao is expected to account for over 5 percent of its GDP by 2025.