Jilin province's tourism bureau joined the online business giant Alibaba Group in a promotional event for an online flagship store for tourism, the first of its kind in China's Northeast, on March 29, which attracted as many as 360 companies ranging from travel agents to car rentals and hotels, to souvenirs.

This Jilin online shop is expected to open in mid-April as a way to give the tourism industry a shot in the arm through the "Internet Plus" model and, in the words of Yang Andi, the tourism bureau's head, “The promotional event is a warm-up activity for our official online store and it is an opportunity for our travel companies to broaden their perspective and get a better understanding of Internet thinking."

Jilin province working with Alibaba Group to promote its flagship online tourism store, in the city of Changchun, on March 29. [Photo/chinajilin.com.cn]

Yang says that provincial tourism authorities and Alibaba will invite companies with a good customer service records and reputations to "move in" to the flagship store online and that an Alibaba online travel site, Alitrip, will help Jilin connect with mobile and online customers through its service site.

Jilin has been coming up with new ways to boost its tourism industry, according to Bayinchaolu, its Party chief, who addressed the two congressional sessions, in Beijing, earlier this year, where he said that the province will increase its efforts in the tourism industry as a new part of the service sector for local growth amid economic restructuring and reforms.

Last year, it saw 141.3 million visitors from around the globe, bringing in 231.5 billion yuan ($35.6 billion), a growth of 25.4 percent from the previous year.