Tourists from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions can expect new, accessible travel options in Zhejiang province on the Chinese mainland, as industry leaders from the three regions met in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, on Thursday to design packages that display the province’s poetic charm.
The tourism promotion event featured three new themed tours, which aim to delight tourists with the province’s digital technology hubs, profound cultural heritage, and rare natural spectacles.
One tour blends the modern tech scene at Alibaba headquarters with ancient culture through a virtual-reality-enabled archaeological experience of Liangzhu culture – an ancient civilization of an early regional state from late Neolithic China. A second route retraces the steps of ancient Chinese poet Li Bai and calligrapher Wang Xizhi – from Shaoxing’s canals to Tiantai Mountain. The third itinerary offers great photographic opportunities with sights of Wenzhou and Lishui’s mist-shrouded villages, terraced fields, and seas of clouds.
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These itineraries are bolstered by a new one-stop digital platform that features AI-powered trip planning, a QR code for access and payment, targeted consumption guidance, and multilingual tourist support, introduced to overcome barriers commonly faced by inbound visitors.
In a move to boost the province’s cultural and tourism ties with the two SARs, the Hong Kong-Macao promotion center under the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Radio Television and Tourism signed strategic partnerships with the Hong Kong Association of China Travel Organisers and the Travel Industry Council of Macau at the event.
The agreement came months after Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s visit to Zhejiang in April, during which cooperation was sealed on 51 projects in 13 fields, including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), artificial intelligence (AI), and trade, investment, and finance.
The partnership will see the development of multidestination tourism packages that showcase Zhejiang to inbound tourists, as well as more cross-border tourist exchanges, data sharing, and industry professionals cooperation between Zhejiang and the two SARs.
The center will continue to function as a window, platform, and catalyst for Zhejiang-Hong Kong-Macao tourism cooperation, its director Luo Yuhong said.
It will deliver policy guidance, deepen resource alignment, and strengthen digital support to ensure Zhejiang’s cultural and tourism offerings are “visible, accessible, and usable” for partners in the two SARs, Luo added.
Zhejiang and Hong Kong are ushering in a golden era for tourism collaboration, said Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong Chairman Tommy Tam Kwong-shun.
He cited the high-speed rail link connecting Hong Kong and Hangzhou — launched in January — and the rapidly expanding integrated air-rail network within the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as key drivers to uplift cross-border tourist numbers and multidestination travel.
Tam added that there is potential for further integration of Zhejiang’s rich cultural heritage with Hong Kong’s international character to jointly develop globally competitive cultural and tourist products.
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A Travel Industry Council of Macau representative expressed the hope that Zhejiang and Macao can deepen cooperation in areas such as cultural heritage-themed routes, youth study tours, and sports tourism.
Zhang Linglong, president of the Zhejiang Association of Travel Service, said the province has launched an initiative to attract 100,000 Hong Kong tourists to visit Zhejiang.
Zhejiang will maintain efforts to enhance inbound tourism services while deepening cooperation with travel agencies in Hong Kong and Macao to develop products of global appeal, he added.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
